f^" 


"'*-., 






x^ 


^x. 


r- 


<*• 




-t- 


\ 










.>; 


V- 


V. 






-^ 


0^ 










#^. 












\' 



^- .<^ _ "^ ^' ^: "^^ -^' 






CO "^ > 



.0 o. ^. ^ 



H -n^ N^'^. '4: ^ -r. 






t, -u 



.0 , -■-,%'°'^/\<!r':V"-x-:A.;-<^ 



•^ -'•^ 



P#^ .v*' "^.. ' 
















Q_ 












^^^ V^ 












^ .^\'' 
^"^ 




"^^ 















'^ 



.^^' 



■^,^'':« 



" « <f. 



^^A v^ 



A 



^ , ^ " \ 






c> 


















X^ ^'^. 



'^r 






LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER, 



SKETCHES OF UNION MEN 



OP THE 



S O TJ T H:-^V\^EST; 

WITH INCIDENTS AND ADVENTUKES IN 

REBELLION ON THE BORDER, 

BY A,, W. BISHOP, 

LIEUT, COL. FIRST ARKANSAS CAVALRY VOLUNTEERS. 






^ 



ST. LOUIS: 

B. P. STUDLBY AND CO., PRINTEKS, SOTTTH-WKST COB. MAIN AND OLIVE 8T3. 
1863. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 

A. W. BISHOP, 

In the Clerk'f Office of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. 



PREFACE 



While on duty at Elkhorn Tavern, Arkansas, in November, 
1862, the- preparation of the following pages was begun. We had 
no particular object in view, certainly no thought of authorship, 
but, as facts accumulated, they suggested a project and a plan, and 
as our leisure would admit, we wrote away. 

At Pea Ridge, our conveniences were limited. The only house at 
the Post was the old Elkhorn Tavern — two apartments and a " lean 
to" that served as a kitchen. Into this last we retreated, whenever 
we could, even for half an hour at a time, and taking position at 
one end of a table, while our contraband cook kneaded away at the 
other, endeavored to bring our thoughts into line. Our sanctum 
let in the light from above very freely, so much so that in rainy 
weather we were compelled to suspend operations altogether. At 
such a time, we would go into the camps or send for particular men, 
gathering thus the experiences that we have attempted to relate. 

Ordered to Prairie Grove a few days after the battle, we endea- 
vored to prosecute our plan there, and to some extent succeeded. 
Coming finally to Fayetteville, we took up our quarters at a private 
house. Having access now to a choice library, to which we are 
indebted for an occasional quotation, and to "Webster's Un- 
abridged," to settle our orthography, we continued the sketches. 

The President's proclamation of January 1, 1863, declared Arkan- 
sas in rebellion. So far as a proclamation and a knot of rebel 
politicians who revolve around Little Rock, can make her rebellious, 



4 PREFACE. 

she is. Practically, western Arkansas, even to the Louisiana line, 
and many counties in the eastern portion of the State, are not. 
The masses are loyal, and had the battle of Prairie Grove been 
fought three months earlier, the people of the western section of the 
State could have availed themselves of the proclamation of Sep- 
tember 22, 1862, and might now be represented in the national 
legislature. 

They nevertheless dare the rebel authorities at Little Rock, and 
are now rallying south of the Arkansas River, in the Magazine 
Mountains and elsewhere, as six months ago they fought Hind- 
man's men on the White River Hills. 

It is distressing beyond expression to witness the destitution and 
know of the sufferings of hundreds of the Union men of the south- 
west. As we write, we are just from an interview with a man and 
his wife, both past middle age, who have walked the entire way 
from Bastrop county, Texas, a distance of three hundred and thirty 
miles, to Fayetteville, and are here on the day typical of national 
grandeur, with their lives alone. 

The Government knows but little of the sufferings of the loyal 
men of the Border. It is no easy thing to adhere to the Union in a 
seceded State, and when insult, outrage and beggary are the con- 
sequence, the unfortunate sufferer becomes the object of our warm- 
est sympathy, and if help cometh not quickly, if hope is so long 
deferred that the heart sickens, we must not be surprised when the 
steadfast waver and the doubting rebel against the "Constitution 
and the laws." 

It is therefore an object of serious concern, that army movements 
in a seceded State often look so little towards the re-creation of 
a healthy public sentiment, and that army officers should some- 
times be inclined to treat those with whom they have an ancestry 



PREFACE. O 

in common, as the inhabitants of a conquered province. Many are 
brave enough in the field, but if so fortunate as to leave it victors, 
occasionally find themselves in the predicament of the man who 
caught the elephant. 

Winning battles and holding territory will not alone bring 
American citizens back to their allegiance. The commonalty of 
the South must be informed why we fight, for on that point they 
have been fearfully misled. Remove the scales from their eyes, and 
they will do as certain Texan regiments have recently done, disband 
and go home, swearing never again to take up arms in defence of 
that miserable pretention, the Southern Confederacy. Many slave- 
holders also are at heart loyal, and are aiding in various ways the 
cause of the Government. Naturally enough they have sought to 
preserve their property, whether human or otherwise, and it is very 
much to be lamented that in the conduct of the war, such license 
should exist as is occasionally permitted the soldiery. Exaspera- 
tion at the needless destruction of property begets the feeling, first, 
of indifi'erence, then of hostility, and many loyal men are reluctant 
to put trust in a Government-^generous, and they know it — the 
officers in whose army, through ignorance or design, have little or 
no regard for private rights. Still, the loyalty of the South-west 
continues to "crop out." It endures the severest hardships, sub- 
mits to the most trying privations ; and if in the following pages 
their faint reflex is made to appear, as also that of the incidents 
and adventures that give to war its charm, we may not have written 
in vain. 

Fayette viLLE, Ark., 
March 4, 1863. 



INTRODUCTION 



In no section of the country has the Great Kebellion created such 
intense personal hate, or separated more widely friends and relations, 
than in the South-West. Early in the war the indications of a divided 
sentiment were apparent, and there were needed but a few cracks of the 
rifle— an occasional shot from the "brush" — to fan the flame of political 
discussion into the consuming fire of partisan strife. The "peculiar 
institution " came in, of course, for its share of obloquy and commen- 
dation. Advocates of secession — the lights of street corners and cross 
roads — found no subject so fertile of conversions among hard working 
farmers, as the absurd notion of negro equality. It was the burden of 
discourse not only, but of conversation, and was well calculated to 
alienate the poorer classes, who, though owning but few slaves them- 
selves, or generally none at all, were yet born on Southern soil, and 
possessed that aversion of the negro, which, whatever else it might con- 
cede, could not brook for a moment the thought of his social or political 
equality. 

The poison spread, and soon infused itself into the minds of hundreds 
of peaceable citizens, transforming them into bands of armed and head- 
strong men, ready at a moment's notice to fire the house, plunder the 
property, and take the life of an inofiending neighbor, if suspected, even, 
of sympathy with the " Lincoln Government." Nobody, in fact, could 
be so bad as a " Fed." " He's no better nor a nigger," said one ; *' He's 
a nigger thief," said another ; " He wants to put niggers into office over 
us," would chime in a third ; and so on through a long diatribe of sense- 
less and vindictive calumnies. Personal abuse was followed up by the 
shot gun, and a few weeks sufficed to fill the Border with roving bands 
of reckless men, fighting for a phantom. It was nothing else. The 
Federal Government still stood as from its beginning. The Army of the 



8 ^ INTRODUCTION. 

Union fought for, not under cover of, the Constitution, and was called 
into being upon the spur of a great emergency — the imperiling of a 
nation's life. A Republican President had been elected, but his Repub- 
licanism could stand the test of scrutiny. There was nothing unconsti- 
tutional or extreme in its composition. Declaring in his inaugural 
address, that he had neither the power nor the desire to interfere with 
slavery in the States, he would assuredly have respected the compromises 
of the Constitution, had an impartial people given his administration 
a fair trial. 

But the madness of insanity seemed to possess the pro-slavery element 
in our civil polity. It had ceased to hold the balance of power, and that 
fact becoming annoyingly apparent, nothing would satisfy the yearnings 
of its ambitious leaders but separation — secession — peaceable, if possible ; 
but in any event, secession. The memory of the past — the prosperity of 
the present — the hope of the future — were nothing. A lamentable con- 
fusion of terms, and a mistaken impression of the character of Northern 
sentiment, made every ^opponent an Abolitionist. The success of the 
Republican party in the general election of 1860, was considered the 
victory of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, disguised as it 
might be, and no argument could pierce the stubbornness of this conclu- 
sion. Sensible men knew it to be erroneous. But no matter. The 
Union must be broken up. The equilibrium of the sections had been 
lost, and separate existence must now follow. The idea of a hopeless 
mii^ority was unendurable. Slavery, the fruitful source of Southern 
woe, could not brook restraint. Power had nursed and must uphold 
it, and if the Federal Union could not give it scope, disruption must 
ensue. 

It is idle to say that the Northern people have desired, or now desire, 
to infringe upon the rights of the South, much less to subjugate her. 

It was an easy thing for South Carolina to pass the ordinance of seces- 
sion, and for her misguided sisters to catch the contagion of her exam- 
ple. A very few men in representative positions can vote a State out of 
the Union, but when the martial power necessary to keep it there is to be 
summoned forth, motives must be presented before men will fight bravely 
and hopefully. 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

In the Border States these motives were wanting, yet men must be had. 
Effective secession implied them, and neither the slaveholders of the 
South, nor the system upon which the new Government was to be based, 
could create the necessary stimulus to enlistments. 

The poorer classes, small farmers and day laborers, with here and 
there a wealthy land-holder, who had the independence to do and hire 
his own labor, must be " whipped in." 

Numbers make armies, and that plan which would the quickest create 
prejudices and arouse animosity, stood the best chance for adoption. 
Men were told that the grand object of the war on the part of the Federal 
Government was to lift the negro to a state of equality with the whites, 
freeing him from bondage, and giving him the right to exercise the 
elective franchise and hold office ; statements whose falsity was only 
equalled by the lamentable credulity given to them. But the means 
brought about the end, and the fires of secession raged all the more 
fiercely from the fanaticism of its dupes. 

There was here and there, however, an oasis in this desert of public 
opinion, now and then a surging of the popular wave, that betokened a 
living and abiding faith in the Government. Not every man could be 
made to believe that the present war was one of aggression and subjuga- 
tion. Many discovered its true object, the perpetuation of the Union a& 
it was when the war broke out, and under the protection of which they 
had gathered what of substance Ihey possessed. 

Poverty and rebellion were not always nursed by the same fire-light. 
The old frontiersman, sitting musingly in his chimney corner, on the 
slope of a mountain spur, could not see wherein the election of Abraham 
Lincoln had injured him. The slow course of an uncertain mail, or the 
garrulous tongue of a neighbor, had told him what " Old Abe " said on 
the steps of the Capitol, and he was simple enough, as many thought, to 
believe in him. 

He had prospered in his way, and though poor, it is true, could hunt 
without fear, and eat his corn bread and bacon in quiet. His more am- 
bitious neighbor in the valley below could not discover any power in 
secession to render his crops more abundant than they had been. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

The fear of negro equality had never disturbed him, and he was very 
certain that the Government of the United States had thus far permitted 
him to be the architect of his own fortunes. His sturdy common sense 
told him that a Kevolution " was the very last resource of the thinking 
and the good," and he could neither see, hear nor read of those signs of 
material decay that always forebode the downfall of a nation. 

Thus thought the Union men of the Border, and though far removed 
from the great heart of American political life, they nevertheless felt its 
pulsations, and gave a prompt response to the enthusiasm of their 
brethren in the East. And now came the veritable "tug of war." 

Sterling Price, with the executive co-operation of Claiborne ¥. Jackson 
to justify him, and possessing also, in no small degree, the confidence of 
the people of south-western Missouri, had raised an army of State Guards, 
ostensibly, but rebels at heart, who, after a few months of hypocrisy, 
became well ordered, if not disciplined, foes of the Government. 

The mass was heterogenous : one portion was rebel from principle — if 
the expression can be pardoned — another from policy, and a third from 
ignorance. 

Those, however, who had the least to gain by rebellion, were its most 
malignant supporters. War answered their purposes as well as peace — 
better, in fact — for with them it meant license, rapine and murder. 

Thus sprung into existence numerous guerrilla bands, that have ren- 
dered the people of the South-west familiar with the names of Bledsoe, 
McFarland, Joslin and Livingston, giving a local notoriety to men who, 
but for their crimes, would not be known beyond the ravines or bushes 
wherein they skulked. 

In the earlier stages of the rebellion, particularly after the battle at 
"Wilson's Creek, and during the occupancy of Springfield by General 
Price in the winter of 1861, they were wont to call themselves "Price's 
men," and depredated upon the surrounding country with a degree of 
malignity for which history does not often find a parallel. Gradually 
their operations extended into Arkansas, and before the battle at Pea 
Kidge, the citizens of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison and Craw- 
ford counties, had frequent occasion to realize that the utterance of loyal 
sentiments was what insurance brokers would call "extra hazardous." 



INTRODUCTION. H 

After that engagement their condition was but little improved. The 
Pederal army, it is true, left the field victorious, and pushed on through 
the State. 

Kebellion was partially stunned in the valleys of the White and Arkan- 
sas rivers, and men who before had preserved a discreet silence, now 
defined their position and prepared to meet the consequences. 

These were not slow in coming. Organized treason was still powerful, 
and daily becoming more oppressive. Militia or "township meetings," 
as they were called, were frequently held, for the purpose of creating or 
organizing companies or detachments ; and whenever the people failed 
to turn out freely, personal notice was given. 

Individuals suspected of Union proclivities came especially under the 
ban of this surveillance, and any tardiness to enroll was the signal for 
abuse and insult. But evidently this condition of things could not long 
prevail. 

A State at war with others cannot know neutrality within itself. To 
succeed, her people must be a unit, and naturally enough, the leaders of 
secession in Arkansas sought to make the unit as perfect as possible. Still 
the elements would not mingle. 

The crucible broke when the fires of ultraism were applied to it. Love 
of country and attachment to the new Confederacy could not be com- 
pounded. 

They were as oil and water, and neither swords nor statutes could make 
them mingle. A conscript act was passed, and now men must either 
enroll or flee, — and quiet, orderly, peaceable citizens, were compelled to 
accept the latter alternative. 

The army had passed on to Batesville, and thence rapidly to the Mis- 
sissippi. It went as speedily as it came, and the Union men who had 
hovered upon its border, or filed into the ranks, marked by their conduct 
and betrayed by their sympathy, were left without organization or pro- 
tection. 

To remain longer at home was worse than to leave wives and children, 
(temporarily, as they thought,) and thus began the hegira of the South- 
west. About this time Federal forces were again accumulating at 
Springfield, and thither hunted, but not disheartened, the Unionists of 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

Arkansas bent their steps. To them it was the North star of hope — the 
Mecca of faith. No obstacles daunted, no dangers appalled them. 
Lying in the woods by day, at early nightfall they resumed their toil- 
some journey, carefully shunning highways, and trusting to the instinct 
of self-preservation, and the inconstant guidance of the stars, for ultimate 
safety. 

Nor did their dangers and fears desert them when they had crossed the 
Missouri line. A comparatively new peril now beset them. 

A grand stamping ground of ''bushwhackers " had to be crossed, and 
woe to the luckless wight who endeavored to pass through the miserable 
village of Keitsville. * 

It is hardly necessary to add, that Keitsville was frequently avoided. 
Its surrounding hills, however, were traversed in a manner that bid 
defiance to all laws of engineering, and specimens of its lawless popula- 
tion were occasionally " hoist by their own petard." 

In the spring of 1862, the refugees began to appear at Cassville, Mo., 
many with their families, and what little stock and furniture they had 
succeeded in "getting out." 

Their love for the Union was strong, and their alacrity to enlist could 
not be surpassed. The idea having been prosecuted of enlisting them 
into the United States service, not many months thereafter a regiment 
stood up to swear lasting vengeance upon the men who had so cruelly 
robbed and persecuted them, and theirs were no idle threats. 

The god of war was never more firmly seated than when he received 
their vows, and all the~sacrifices to be laid at his feet by them have not 
yet passed the "portals of the gates of death." 

* Keitsville, Barry county, Mo., has been noted since the origin of our national troubles 
as a rendezvous for marauders of the worst description. One "Joe Peevie," living a short 
distance west of the village, seemed to be the leader of the gang, and no atrocities were too 
inhuman for them to commit. 

Lieut. Miller, of the First Missouri Cavalry, was brutally murdered near there in 

the spring of the present year, and since that event a number of men, citizens and soldiers* 
have been fired upon from tbe bushes, and not afterwards heard of. 

The village has paid dearly for the rebel proclivities of its inhabitants. There is scarcely 
a house left standing^in it. Fire has completed what rebellion began, and all that Keits- 
ville can bequeath to posterity, save the enduring loyalty of Thomas Kelt, its founder, is a 
hard name. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

There is a retributive future for those men, who, in the spring ancT 
summer of 1862, from Fort Smith to Little Kock, and from the Arkansas 
river to the Missouri line, hunted their old friends and neighbors like 
wild beasts of the forest, simply because they were true to the Union as 
their fathers made it. 

Oaths of allegiance taken at the eleventh hour will not be coats of mail 
to them. 

The future will take its complexion from the past, until individual hate 
is sated, personal injuries are atoned for, and he who took up the sword 
shall have perished by it. 

Moralists teach a different doctrine, but for ages, personal safety, law- 
ful war and public justice, have been exceptions to the ISTew Testament 
exhortation of turning the other cheek when one has been smitten.* 

Such, in brief, is the experience of the Union men of the South-West, 
many of whom are officers and soldiers of the First Arkansas Cavalry. 

From the enlistment of its first man to the mustering of the twelfth 
company, the camp of the regiment was a continuous story of wrongs 
and outrages, and old men and boys, women and children, were sub- 
sisted bj^ the Government, whilst husbands and brothers were preparing 
for the avenging strife. Singly and in groups they came to Springfield. 
Weary and sore, they stood up to be "sworn in," many infirm of limb, 
but firm of purpose, and thus arose the regiment. 

Othei'S have sought to serve their Government in civil capacity. One 
in particular has immortalized his name and patriotism in standing 
firmly by the Union in the legislative halls of the State of Arkansas, 
when none of his compeers were bold or true enough to follow his 
example. 

With him we commence our sketches. 

Elk Horn Tavern, Ark., 
November, 1862. 



ISAAC MURPHY 



The causeless war now convulsing the American nation has 
developed few more noble instances of stern, unyielding devotion 
to principle, than is presented by the subject of this sketch. 
Emigrating from Tennessee to Washington county, Arkansas, in 
1834, he early became identified with the growth of his adopted 
State, and has ever since proved true to the convictions of early 
manhood. 

A democrat in principle, he has dared to ignore party lines when 
honesty and ability were at issue, preferring competency in the 
whig party to inefficiency in his own. A lawyer by profession, he 
early learned to think for himself, and during the troublesome 
scenes of his later life, was buoyed up by the consciousness that he 
was taking counsel of his judgment, while his friends and neighbors 
were swayed by prejudice or overawed by power. 

Settling at Fayetteville, where in the spring of 1836 he was 
admitted to the bar, he early took rank as a man of influence and 
sagacity, and in August, 1846, was elected a representative in the 
lower house of the State Legislature. In August, 1848, he was 
re-elected, and served until the spring of 1849, when he went to 
California. 

During his legislative career he was attentive to his duties, was 
<ever watchful of the interests of the State and his own section, and 



16 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

lost no opportunity to foil the plans of corruptionists — men always 
found hovering around a capital — State buzzards who feed and 
fatten upon the dissolution of everything that makes a people pros- 
perous or a nation great. 

Arkansas, at this time, was literally in the hands of a few men. 
The Johnson family, known throughout the State, was at the height 
of its power. The father, for many years United States District 
Judge of the District of Arkansas, had died some time previously, 
bequeathing to his heirs a handsome fortune, and to the State three 
ambitious sons, and a generous, high-minded son-in-law, Ambrose 
H. Sevier. That the State, however, was benefited by a portion 
of this bequest, has not become apparent. The son-in-law, after 
serving with honor in the United States Senate, was sent to 
Mexico to bear amendments to the proposed treaty of peace be- 
tween that power and the United States. Returning to Little Rock 
during the session of the Legislature of 1848, and at which a United 
States senator was to be chosen, he found party politics, or party 
dissensions rather, running high, and Solon Borland a candidate 
against him. 

It then lacked but a few days of the time appointed for the elec- 
tion. Feeble in health, he gave his cause but little personal atten- 
tion, trusting mainly for success to the Johnson brothers — his allies 
in politics as well as by aflSliation — but the coalition against him 
was too strong. 

Democrats, disaffected with the Johnson family, and whigs, whose 
individual proclivities overrode fealty to party, struck hands with 
each other, and Solon Borland was elected by a majority of one, 
himself a democrat of the straightest sect. Upon Mr. Sevier the 
blow fell with a crushing weight. His supporters knew him to be a. 
statesman, and he knew that his opponent was not. 



ISAAC MURPHY. 17 

Mortification mingled with disappointment, and he immediately 
left Little Rock for his plantation near Pine Bluff, on the Arkansas 
river. A few days later, his body lay at the levee of the State 
Capital, and until his death was mentioned to the member from his 
county by the subject of this sketch, it was not known to the Legis- 
lature. A profound sensation followed — marks of respect of no 
ordinary character were shown to the memory of the deceased, and 
thus sank beneath the sod, one of the true friends of Arkansas, who, 
though bound by ties of family to scheming, designing men, was 
yet superior to the low cunning and sly artifice, that for years prac- 
tically gave them control of the finances of the State. 

Robert Johnson, first a Congressman, and, when the State sece- 
ded, a member of the United States Senate ; Richard Johnson, for 
many years editor and proprietor of the Little Rock Democrat, 
doubtless the most influential paper in the State ; and James John- 
son, a younger brother and a lesser light, recently a Colonel in the 
rebel army, now deceased, were the trio, whose baneful influence, 
as popularly accredited,^ impoverished the State at home, and 
impaired its credit abroad. This, at least is true : the family were 
all-powerful at Little Rock when the State bank and its branches 
were created ; when the Real Estate Bank was established ; when 
a seminary fund — 72 sections of land — -and an internal improve- 
ment fund — 500,000 acres — were placed under the control of the 
State, to be disposed of for her best interests. 

Robert Johnson and collateral branches of the family were 
•especially active in the management of the banks and the disposition 
of the funds ; and, in the latter case, what was intended as a great 
State benefaction became the means and appliances of strengthening 
the power of individuals. The banks broke, and the funds were 
squandered ; but the Johnson family maintained its state. That 



18 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

specious argument, which told the people that the proceeds of the 
seminary fund should be distributed throughout the counties for 
common school purposes, met with favor for a time. 

Large sums of money were paid to county treasurers, but they 
were loaned to private individuals. No better evidence, in fact, of 
the mis-management of this fund can be asked for than the lament- 
able ignorance of a large proportion of the population of the State. 
A school-house at a crossing of roads is a rare sight in many locali- 
ties ; and there have been wider departures from fact, than the story 
that " they send out the hounds, on the White river hills, to catch 
the children on a Sunday morning, to put clean clothes on." In 
politics, also, this family was all-powerful. They had their " strikers" 
and " tools " in every county in the State, and it was almost impos- 
sible to secure an office, high or low, or a morsel of patronage, small 
or great, without their intervention in some shape. To Washington, 
even, this influence extended, and Federal appointees from Arkansas 
had first to reflect the views and prejudices of the Johnson brothers. 
With the schemes of these men, Isaac Murphy was never in sym- 
pathy. While a legislator, he worked indefatigably for the develop- 
ment of the best interests of the State ; framed resolutions and 
bills, and presented and enforced them, but often without result. 
Some stultifying or plausible amendment would be proposed. Delay 
would follow deliberation, and measures calculated beyond question 
to build up a great State, fell still-born where they were conceived. 
Mr. Murphy's ill-health was the cause of his going to California. 
For years he had been troubled in this respect, and a change of 
climate with relief from all harassing mental ^labor, was thought to. 
be the best prescription. 

Availing himself of an opportunity to journey with a number of 
his acquaintances, who were about to seek the new land of gold for 



ISAAC MURPHY. 19 

its own sake, Tie started overland in April, 1849, and reached the 
Sacramento river in Augnst of that year. 

He remained in California until the Spring of 1854. His health 
improving while there, the prevailing infection seized him, and he 
was soon among the miners as one of them. As in the case, how- 
ever, of many others, prospecting found a law-suit, and he left the 
State embarrassed by the expenditures of a bootless litigation. 
Returning to Arkansas, he settled in Huntsville, Madison county, 
and was elected to the State Senate from Madison and Benton 
counties in August, 1856. His Senatorial career was not marked by 
any events of special interest not identified with the general history 
of the times. A Democrat, as has already been observed, his course 
proved him loyal to every genuine political project, and a warm 
adherent of the interests of the South. 

After the expiration of his term, he returned to Huntsville and 
remained quietly at home practicing his profession, until was begun 
the ominous Presidential campaign of 1 860. He saw the storm 
coming, and prepared to breast it. A democrat of the Douglas 
school, he was zealous in the advocacy of its peculiar theories. 
In his own State, a division in party sentiment occurred, and he 
found himself numerically upon the weaker side. But circumstances 
did not affect his position, although sufficiently hostile to deter most 
men from effort. The Charleston Convention had adjourned. Its 
members separating to their several States, began plying anew the 
rod of secession, and in Arkansas it was wielded by Thomas C. 
Hindman, Robert and Richard Johnson, and Henry M. Rector, late 
Governor of the State. Secession, should Lincoln be elected, was 
boldly advocated, and these men, with others, canvassed the State 
for Breckenridge and Lane, yet notwithstanding, it was difficult to 
make honest yeomanry believe that they really intended to take the 



20 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

State out of the Union in case of a defeat at tlid* polls. They 
claimed, in fact, to be Union men, but there was a fearful "if" in 
their patriotism. 

While these events were passing, the other wing of the demo- 
cratic party was not idle. Active measures were taken to get up a 
Douglas electoral ticket. Hon. Albert Rust, then member of Con- 
gress, was especially zealous and his efforts were heartily co-operated 
in by Mr. Murphy. The result, however, was inauspicious. The 
"Junto" at Little Rock was too powerful, and honest men were 
compelled to look to defeat for encouragement. Election day came 
and went. The Legislature convened and passed an act to call a 
State Convention to take into consideration the policy of seceding 
from the Union. Delegates to the Convention were to be elected on 
the 18th of February, 1861. The time was very brief, and most 
people were taken by surprise. They had not anticipated this 
movement. Supposing that the contest of the November previous 
would pass away like its predecessors, they neither busied them- 
selves with devising treasonable schemes nor in plotting rebellion. 

The Knights of the Golden Circle, or rather, Knaves of the God- 
less Communion, were busily at work during the fall campaign, and 
to their zeal is mainly attributable the treasonable complexion of 
the Legislature. Its passage of the act referred to, was a lasting 
disgrace to the State, and happy the man who could meet interro- 
gation with an honest " Thou can'st not say I did it." 

On the 11th of February Mr. Murphy was requested by citizens 
of Huntsville to announce himself as a candidate for a seat in the 
Convention. At first he declined doing so, but urged, consented to 
the use of his name. There were but a few days for effort, and 
popular excitement was running high. A secession candidate was 
in the field against him, and that night the labor of the " stump" 



ISAAC MURPHY. 21 

began. Daily thereafter until the election was held, he addressed 
his fellow-citizens in different parts of the county, and with what 
effect is best shown by the fact that he received all the votes 
cast — several thousand in number — but 144. In other sections 
of the State similar gratifying evidences of attachment to the 
Union were manifested. North-western Arkansas, by the almost 
unanimous action of its citizens demonstrated its devotion to the 
" old flag." The whole country, in fact, north of the Arkansas 
river, was alive with unionism, and there was needed but the 
Promethean spark of competent leadership to fire a train of 
causes that would consume secession with all its woes. Even 
cotton planting counties south of the river returned Union 
delegates, and the approaching convention promised to be a bless- 
ing in disguise. No one, however, anticipated thorough harmony. 
The times and men were both " out of joint," and rash acts were 
expected. The Convention met at Little Rock, and delegates at 
once assumed that they had all the power the people could give 
them, untrammelled by the Constitution or other organic law. No 
oath was administered upon taking their seats, and license was thus- 
given, as it were, to reckless action. 

An ordinance of secession was brought before the Convention^ 
but voted down by a majority of five. The traitorous members of 
the Convention, failing to accomplish their purposes, an ordinance 
was passed to refer the question of secession to the people of 
the State, at an election to be held on the first Monday of 
August then next ensuing. The Convention then adjourned to 
convene again, upon the call of its president, Judge David Walker, 
of Washington county, with the implied understanding, however, 
that the Convention was not to reassemble until after the August 
election, an implication strengthened by the fact, that the mem- 



22 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

bers of the Convention were appointed returning officers of the 
vote then to be cast. 

Before the Convention . rose, the minority threatened frequently 
to leave it — to take up arms and force the State out of the Union 
by Military power, but nothing was done, and the Convention 
adjourned in a body. Shortly afterwards the bombardment of 
Fort Sumter took place, and the occurrence was seized upon 
as a pretext for renewed agitation. Extraordinary efforts were 
made to urge the people into a favorable mood for secession. 
The gallant conduct of Major Anderson was stigmatized as an 
attempt at coercion. Unscrupulous politicians hissed out their 
venom against the North, and no appliances were left untouched 
which were thought to be calculated to exasperate the people, and 
arouse hatred of the Union. The excited state of public feeling had 
its effect upon the members of the Convention. With Judge Walker, 
as President, rested the discretionary power of calling it together, 
and it was for him to say whether or not public events required 
him to do so. He was the sole judge of the propriety of its re- 
assembling. In his hand was held, at that time, the destiny of the 
State. He could have averted secession by declining to call .the 
Convention, and it is doing too much injustice to his intelligence 
to say that he was not conscious of his power. He felt it, and 
though enjoying the reputation of being an honorable, high-minded 
man, took the initiative in a series of acts, that in a brief period of 
time, dragged the State from its high pedestal to leave it a prey 
to the contending passions of revengeful men. 

He called the Convention for the sixth day of May. Immedi- 
ately attempts were made to instruct the delegates. Every conceiv- 
able pressure was brought to bear upon them. Nearly all the slave- 
holding States had seceded, and the vii'us was creeping toward 



ISAAC MURPHY. 23 

Little Rock. It required no ordinary stamina now to enable public 
men to maintain their consistency. The fury of unthinking hate — 
the rashness of impulsive action, and above all, the evil influences of 
State example, were rapidly tainting public opinion. Quiet seces- 
sionists became bold and uncompromising, and Union men of the 
February preceding, expressed the intention of remaining such, if 
the State did not secede. 

The Convention was to sit on Monday. The Saturday previous 
delegates and citizens began to swarm promiscuously into Little 
Rock. There was but one subject of interest, one topic of conversa- 
tion, and on Monday morning the steps of all were bent in the same 
direction. Yet there was no cheerfulness in the excitement that 
swayed the city. Delegates greeted each other sullenly, and 
although now a large majority seemed determined to vote for seces- 
sion, at all hazards, men felt that they were walking on volcanic 
ground. The hours grew apace, and the dawn of that eventful day 
broke in upon as headstrong an assemblage of men as were ever 
gathered within corporate limits. 

It is an old saying, " Whom the gods would destroy, they first 
make mad," and a few hours later the Arkansian capital verified it. 
At 10 o'clock A. M. the Convention was called to order. The spa- 
cious hall of the House of Representatives was filled to repletion. 
Every nook and corner was occupied. The aisles were full — the 
galleries crowded — men jostled ladies, and ladies each other. Boys 
perched upon window sills, and nestled by the chairs of members. 
Even the sun-light seemed to catch the spirit of the hour, as it 
streamed through the windows and shot its rays angrily through 
the room. 

The usual formalities were observed. The clerks of the old ses- 
sion were made clerks of the new. For a moment there was a 



24 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

death-like, but ominous silence. A member then arose, presented 
an ordinance of secession, and asked that the ayes and noes be 
taken without debate. No one offered to speak. That intensely 
excited throng could not brook the ordeal of discussion. Nearly all 
the delegates were in their seats, and the voting began. It was 
mainly in the affirmative, and those who so voted w^e applauded 
to the echo. Here and there, was an occasional " no," and the 
utterance of this now doubly significant monosylable, became the 
signal for hisses and execration. 

For a few moments order and decorum were entirely disregarded, 
and the President was hardly ^equal to the task of restoring them. 
At length, the last to vote, he rose. All eyes were instantly cen- 
tered upon him, and the hall became suddenly still as a charnel \ 
house. He commenced to speak ; his manner was excited, and his 
utterance somewhat confused. In eloquent language he alluded to 
the assumed coercion of the South in the attack on Fort Sumter; 
told how grand a thought it would be to contemplate the South as 
unanimous in her action — visited his anathemas upon the Abolition 
North, as he saw fit to term it, and then addressing himself to those 
delegates who had voted " no," urged them to change their votes 
that the action of the Convention might go forth to the world as 
unanimous. Turning to the subject of this sketch, who sat not far 
from him, he complimented him upon his firmness of purpose and 
integrity of character, but at the same time casuistically urging 
him to betray the principles that he had nurtured for a life-time. 
He had nothing to say in defence of the old constitution — the 
government that had enriched him came in for no share of his 
panegyric. Memory was swallowed up by hope — reason by vanity, 
and the strange handwriting on the wall did not more clearly fore- 
shadow the fate of Belshazzar, than David Walker told his own in the 



ISAAC MURPHY. 25 

single word "aye," as he resumed his seat! Again the crowd 
applauded to the echo — cheer rang out after cheer, and doubtless 
many an observer envied the proud recipient of all this homage. 

But pause a moment. David Walker had been an earnest advo- 
cate of the cause of the Union. In early life, emigrating to 
Arkansas, he had amassed property, and acquired reputation. He 
had been a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, holding the 
scales of justice evenly and with a steady hand. He was widely 
known, was large hearted and generous, but possessed an over- 
weening love of applause. Washington county sent him as a dele- 
gate to the Convention, a Union man. At Fayetteville, during 
the canvass, he had stated that he would suffer his right arm to be 
cut off, sooner than rote for an ordinance of secession. But alas ! 
the vanity of human resolution. Circumstances and his own inher- 
ent weakness mastered him, and from the moment of his casting 
the fatal vote, reputation and confidence 'forsook him, and though 
he has since taken the oath of allegiance to the government at 
which he aimed so powerful a blow, his old status cannot be 
restored. Though rich in houses and lands, he is poor in the 
esteem of former friends. He is dead while he yet liveth. 

To return to the hall. As the President sat down, four of the 
members, who had voted " no" rose one after another, and asked 
leave to change their votes. As before, the crowd were uproarious 
in their applause, and now, Isaac Murphy, alone in the negative, 
was expected to swing easily into the popular current. His name 
was called by the chair. For a moment there was another death- 
like stillness. " Murphy," " Murphy," was now shouted from the 
lobby, the gallery, and at last from the floor of the Convention 
rose the noisy call. He stood up. Calmly and clearly he spoke of 
bis Southern life. " My principles are all Southern," said he ; "if 
c 



26 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

necessary, I would lay down my life for the benefit of the Southern 
States, but I would rather lose a thousand lives than aid in bringing 
about the untold evils that would assuredly follow in the train of 
secession. Again I say, to the passage of this ordinance, ' No ! ' " 

He resumed his seat. Storms of hisses instantly burst forth. 
"Traitor!" "Traitor!" "Shoot him!" "Hang him!" madly 
resounded through the Hall, but no personal violence was attemp- 
ted. The business of the Convention moved on. There was a 
gradual subsidence of the wild excitement that had so recently 
reigned ; and not until the convention adjourned for the day, did 
Mr. m^^rpliy leave the hall. He had not anticipated doing so 
.-alive. He knew when he entered it, that a dread ordeal was 
approaching ; that he was to be tried by fire ; but relying on God 
and a clear conscience, had fully determined to be true to himself, 
and History will he true to him. He was boarding at the time with 
a daughter, and to the house of her husband he repaired. 

It is somewhat singular, in view of the irascible disposition of 
Southern men, that he was not molested en route. Apparently noth- 
ing but his age and uprightness saved him from insult, and possibly 
death. He reached the house in safety, but, during the balance of the 
session, his friends would not permit him to go into the streets after 
dusk. The convention adjourning, he returned to Huntsville. Pass- 
ing up the Arkansas river to Ozark, he found himself in company 
with members of the Convention, and a large number of rebel 
officers and soldiers. Unexpectedly to him, he was not drawn into 
conversation in relation to his recent course, and he was treated on 
all occasions with the utmost respect. 

On the journey from Ozark to Huntsville he Avas often met by 
Union men, and congratulated upon his firmness. Arriving at home 
he was similarly greeted ; still, the secession element was there. He 



ISAAC MURPHY. 2*7 

was not out of danger. Twice or thrice mob violence was threat- 
ened against him, but nothing was done. At length, a public notice, 
intended especially for him, was nailed to the court house door, 
commanding all Union men to leave the town in ten days. It was 
pulled down, however; and of this, also, nothing came.- A series 
of questions, bearing upon the political issues of the day, and which 
he was requested to answer, was then sent to him. He refused to 
do so, except at a public meeting of the citizens of the town. Such 
a meeting was accordingly called, and largely attended. After the 
usual preliminaries were observed, he commenced addressing the 
people, but was speedily interrupted in an ungentlemanly and insult- 
ing manner, by a portion of the secession rabble of the place. He 
persisted, however, answering all questions of point, and turning the 
laugh upon his enemies ; but the confusion increased, and at length 
the assemblage, to use an expression more truthful than elegant, 
broke up in a row. Yet this occurrence was a triumph for the 
Union men. 

Mr. Murphy was now permitted for a time to live in peace. At 
length, private threats were made ; not to him directly, but in such 
a manner that they reached his family. Assassination was hinted 
at ; and now, acting upon the advice of genuine friendship, he 
secretly left his home, accompanied by Dr. J. M. Johnson and Frank 
Johnson, his brother, both citizens of Huntsville. They were fol- 
lowed, but, evading pursuit, overtook the rear of General Curtis' 
army near Keitsville, Mo. This was in April, 1862. From that 
time until the September following, they remained with the Army 
of the South-west, when Mr. Murphy came to Springfield, Mo., in 
the hope that army movements would be of such a character as to 
permit him to re-visit his home and family. He accompanied the 
Army of the Frontier on its march into Arkansas, saw it "go up 



28 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

the hill and then down again," accomplishing no object commen- 
surable with the time, money and labor expended, and when it 
returned to Missouri, he remained at Elk Horn Tavern, waiting for 
another and more effectual advance. There he now is, practically- 
expatriated, a prisoner of hope, an honest man. 

Elk Horn Tavern, Ark., 
November, 1862. 



I 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON 



The misfortunes of early life are often the guaranty of subsequent 
success. A boy, whom the force of circumstances has prematurely 
thrown upon the world, and who possesses the latent spark of 
intrepid action, will, before majority, either kindle his funeral pile, 
or pave the way to an honorable and useful career. 

Adversity is no trifler — it makes or it unmakes, and he upon 
whom is forced the hard lot of night without shelter, and hunger 
wit^iout food, will either become the sworn enemy of his race, ©r 
nobly fight the battle of life, despite care and anxiety, pain and 
poverty. Thus is it that out of darkness cometh light, and that those 
occurrences which at the time were considered so unfortunate, often 
mark the birth of a new and more vigorous life. For a boy, no- 
thing is more to be deplored than the loss of a father and abnega- 
tion of home. The fact of the first, and the willfulness of the second 
event, render his case one of peculiar solicitude, and if the world 
takes no interest in him, heaven help the morals of those with 
whom he comes in contact. 

In this perilous position fortune placed John I. Worthington. 
His energy helped him out of it. Born in Somerset county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 14th day of June, 1826; at four years of age a 
fearful accident left him fatherless. Possessed of ardent impulses 
and a firm will, a child's quarrel, had with another boy, when eleven 
years of age, and for which his mother punished him, thoroughly 



30 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

roused his anger, and he ran away. Like all boys who thus lake 
the bits within their teeth, he did that which was apparently a des- 
cent from bad to worse, and hired out as a canal driver to a Cap- 
tain Pickworth, living at Johnstown, Cambria county, and who was 
then running a line boat on the western division of the Pennsyl- 
vania canal. 

In this instance, however, the fact was otherwise. His employer 
was kind and watchful, and the boy's morals did not undergo the 
usual transformation of the calling. Shortly after arriving at Johns- 
town, his mother ascertaining his whereabouts, sought to induce 
him to return home. But he was obstinate, and though not want- 
ing in filial affection — always in after life contributing whatever he 
could to the comfort of his mother — he was fully determined to 
have his own way in this matter. At sixteen ho was promoted from 
the tow-path to the cahin^ and as captain of the boat for four years 
succeeding, managed its affairs with skill and economy. 

The Mexican war arising, he enlisted on the lYth of Decem- 
ber, 1846, as a private in Company B, Second Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers. The company was commanded by John W. 
Gear}^ afterwards well known as Governor of Kansas; the regiment 
by William Roberts, wounded at Cerro Gordo, and dying at San 
Augustine three months later, from the effects of the injury. On 
the 3d of January, 184*7, the regiment left Pittsburg for the seat of 
war. Arriving at Vera Cruz on the 10th of March, it was engaged 
in the memorable siege of that city. After its capitulation, the 
command moved inland, and participated in the battle of Cerro 
Gordo. It was then stationed at Jalapa, and remained there until 
the 19th of June. Marching thence for Puebla to join the main 
army, and guarding with other troops an immense train, at Lahoya 
their advance was resisted by three thousand guerrillas under Zeno- 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 31 

bia. A severe and desperate battle was fonglit from hand to band, 
and tree to tree, as guerrillas can alone be successfully contended 
with, and they were routed. 

On the 8th of July the regiment reached Puebla. Puebla is 
is eighty miles from the city of Mexico, and the main army under 
General Scott was concentrating there for its march on the doomed 
city. August 8th, 184*7, the column moved — the Second Pennsyl- 
vania constituting a portion of General Shields' brigade, in General 
Quitman's division. On the 19th and 20th days of that month, was 
fought the battle of Contreras. In this engagement the regiment 
was held as a reserve, drawn up in line of battle, but not ordered 
under fire. Six miles nearer the city, the fortifications at Cheru- 
busco, on the Acapulco road, hastily thrown up, but still formidable, 
confronted the victorious army. A bloody and obstinate battle 
ensued, in which the Second Pennsylvania lost one-third of its men 
in killed and wounded. 

The enemy, completely routed, fled in great confusion to the 
city, hotly pursued by infantry, cavalry and artillery. The 20th of 
August was a dark day for Mexico. Her grand army had been sig- 
nally defeated, and Santa Anna asked for an armistice for the pur- 
pose of efi'ecting a treaty of peace. It was entered into, and accord- 
ing to its conditions, twenty-four hours' notice of its termination 
were to be given before it could be broken. An unprovoked attack 
upon a commissary train in the city, by a swell mob, on the 6th 
day of September, and for which General Scott asked, but was 
denied redress, was the occasion of its dissolution. 

The army was lying at Tacubaya, San Angelo and San Augustine, 
points within supporting distance of each other, and but a few 
miles from the city. A rapid movement was made upon it, resisted 
first at Molino-del-Rey, then at Chepultapec. On the morning of 



82 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

the 13th instant the storming column advanced, led by General 
Quitman. In this movement the Second Pennsylvania participated, 
and during its progress young Worthington was wounded in the 
arm, but not so severely as to cause him to leave the field. Later in 
the day a spirited attack was made by the same General's division 
at the Garita-de-Belen ; and at two o'clock in the afternoon the 
position was carried. It was of the first importance, and our gal- 
lant forces deternained to hold it at all hazards. They did so during 
the day, but with a loss to the division, numbering at the time 
only eight hundred, of three hundred and ninety-seven, killed and 
wounded. 

On the following morning the city was surrounded, and one of the 
most brilliant campaisjns in modern warfare seemed to be drawing 
to a successful close. It was, indeed, near its termination ; but there 
was yet work to be done. Santa Anna, with a refinement of 
malignity that harmonized well with his other traits of character, 
had, on the night of the thirteenth instant, released all the convicts 
in the city prisons, and taken other measures to arouse the worst 
passions of the lower classes. The surrender, in form, of the city, 
was no barrier to their opposition. From street to street, they 
resisted the progress of the American forces ; and three days of 
determined hand-to-hand fighting were necessary, before order could 
be restored. 

The Mexican war was then practically ended. Winter quarters 
were sought ; the Second Pennsylvania, however, remaining in the 
city until the 19th of October. From that time until the 30th 
of May, 1848, when peace was declared, it was quartered at San 
Angelo, seven miles from the city. In all the engagements men- 
tioned, with the exception of Molino-del-Rey and Contreras, our 
hero fought. After the taking of Vera Cruz, he was made Corporal. 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 33 

At Puebla he was elected orderly sergeant, and on the 19th of Octo- 
ber, 1847, was promoted to the first lieutenantcy of his company. 
Immediately after peace was declared he returned to Cambria, 
Pennsylvania, arriving there August 19th, 1848. The company 
was received with military honors, a flag was presented to it, and 
upon Mr. Worthington was imposed the duty of responding to the 
presentation speech. He did so in a manner creditable alike to the 
occasion and himself. On the 24th day of the same month, he was 
married to Miss Mary White, of Cambria. Shortly afterwards he 
purchased a canal-boat and a stock of goods^ and pursued the voca- 
tion of a trader, moving up and down the canal, where formerly he 
had toiled and prospered, until the 11th of May, 1849, when his 
wife died. 

Upon a young man there can scarcely fall a severer blow. The 
agonizing loneliness of his situation, when the dread reality becomes 
a conscious fact, is fearful to experience. When no eye but that of 
Omnipresence can penetrate his seclusion, he moans out his uncon- 
trollable anguish. Hope is swallowed up in foreboding, fruition in 
disappointment; and the world, that till now was so joyous and full 
of promise, is draped in profoundest gloom, if not despair. Life 
seems bereft of its ambition, domesticity of its charm, and all the 
inducements to labor, " stale, flat, and unprofitable." But the grief 
of a man is his servant, not his master. Idle despondency is the 
sure sign of great weakness. " What cannot be cured must be 
endured," is a saying trite but true; and young Worthington, 
accepting its philosophy, struggled up against his affliction, and 
prepared anew to fight the battle of life. Changing alike his habit- 
ation and his calling, he occupied the position of conductor on the 
Pennsylvania Central Railroad, and remained in its employ until the 
succeeding Spring. Going then to Mississippi, he hired out as an 



34 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

overseer to one John W. Henderson, taking charge of a large plan- 
tation nine miles below Vicksburg. 

In this position he remained until the Autumn of 1852, when he 
applied himself to school-teaching, taking a private school at Rich- 
mond, Madison Parish, La. There he remained until July, 1853, 
when he abandoned the stool of the pedagogue, and returned to 
Johnstown, Pa. Residing there until January, 1854, the restless 
spirit of adventure and gain combined seized him, and he started 
for California. Selecting an overland route, and having an eye to a 
speculation in transitu^ he proceeded to Napoleon, Arkansas, and 
there took passage on the steamboat Caroline for Jacksonport, on 
White river. In the valley of this stream, and on the adjacent 
uplands, he had intended to purchase a drove of cattle for transpor- 
tation across the plains and sale in the new El-Dorado. On the 
26th of March the steamboat was burned to the water^s edge. 

This disaster occurred at mid-day, and in spite of every exertion, 
so rapidly did the devouring flames do their work, between thirty 
and forty lives were lost. Young Worthington barely escaped with 
his own, and when the full extent of his losses became known, he found 
himself on shore, the possessor of a pair each of socks and pants, 
and $3 25 in money. Taking passage on the "Julia Dean," which 
opportunely arrived at the place of the catastrophe, he proceeded 
thirty miles up the river to Jacksonport, and there set foot again on 
terra firma. His means were now still nearer exhaustion, and it was 
necessary that something should be done at once to replenish them. 

The California project was temporarily abandoned and immediate 
employment sought upon any terms. A warehouse opened its 
inviting door, and our friend worked in it for thirty days. Starting 
then on foot for the over-land route to California, and intending to 
pass through Bentonville, for the purpose of ascertaining where the 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 36 

nearest train might be overtaken, a few days found him at Carrollton, 
the county seat of Carroll County, with three "bits" in his pocket, 
not enough to ensure supper and lodging and his honor at the same 
time. He therefore hurried on a few miles, urged alike by -poverty 
and prudence, and sought entertainment at a substantial farm house. 
While there he learned there was a vacant school to be had in the 
neighborhood ; that it had been made vacant, in fact, the same day, 
by the suicide of its teacher, one Alfred Louthers. Prepossessing his 
host, who was one of the Justices of the District, the school was 
offered to him, and he took it, taught three months at twenty 
dollars a month, boarding himself, and was then re-employed for a 
like period. Meantime, he had formed the acquaintance of, and 
married a Miss Nancy Irvin, the daughter of a highly respectable 
farmer. 

His roving inclinations were now somewhat subdued, and land in 
Carroll county being very cheap, he purchased eighty acres and 
went to farming, and for a year worked early and late, and it was 
not his fault that the earth did not yield freely of her bounty. The 
elements were against him. A drought, long continued and exhaust- 
ive, prematurely parched his corn, and he had the poor satisfaction of 
gathering two and a half bushels per acre. His thoughts now 
centering on his former occupation of school teaching, and not 
knowing but that his second year's experience ae a farmer might be 
a repetition of the first, he bartered his land and improvements for 
a pony and started for Cassville, Mo., in search of a school. 

The day of his arrival, one Lee, a notorious character in the 
South-west, was undergoing the usual preliminary examination on 
a charge of murder, and knowing the Sheriff of the county, and 
taking and interest in the proceedings, Mr. Worthington quietly 
ventured the opinion that Lee was guilty and could be convicted. 



36 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

The only attorneys in the place had been employed by the prisoner, 
and they were not without their sharpness. The Justice before 
whom the examination was had, was one Joel Grammer, still living 
in Cassville. He was also deputy clerk of the circuit court, thus 
assuming to hold contemporaneously, two offices in the gift of the 
State. This a constitutional provision prohibited, but the Justice's 
ignorance was his bliss, and the examination went on. It lasted ten 
days, and at its close one of the attorneys moved that the case be 
dismissed for want of jurisdiction, insisting, also, that though the 
proceedings could go no farther, the acts of the Justice were those 
of a magistrate de facto, and were conclusive so far as the prisoner 
was concerned. The motion was granted, but the prisoner was 
still held in custody by the sheriff. At this juncture Mr. Worthing- 
ton was retained by the fricDds of the deceased, one Risley, and he 
lost no time in directing the sheriff to keep Lee imprisoned, sug- 
gesting farther, that if he failed to do so he would be held re- 
sponsible on his bond. It was a bold move for a stranger and a 
novice, but the schoolmaster was emphatically " abroad. " His 
farming experience flitted unpleasantly across his mental vision. 
He felt that something must be done at once to keep soul and 
body together, and in early life he had studied law a trifle, reading 
Blackstone, and Lewis on Statutory Criminal Law, when captain of a 
canal boat. Possessed of an unusually retentive memory, and never 
having stupified it by liquor or narcotics, what he had read now 
came to his aid, and he was bold enough to apply it. His shrewd- 
ness told him, moreover, that if he played the game and won, he 
might pass for a promising lawyer, if not indeed an old and success- 
ful practitioner. There was no time to lose, and he immediately 
sent a message after one Mr. McCluer, a justice living seven miles 
from the town, with instructions to return with him at once. 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 37 

The order was promptly obeyed, and at daylight on the following 
morning a warrant for the re-arrest of Lee was in the hands of the 
sherifiF. The " bird " had not "flown," and a second examination 
now began. It lasted three days, conducted on the part of the 
prosecution by Mr. Worthington, and resulted in Lee's commitment 
on the charge of murder in the first degree. Eighteen months later 
he was tried at Springfield, Mo., convicted, and sentenced to be 
hung ; but intermediate his sentence and the day of execution, he 
showed his partiality for life by escaping. As usual, nobody was to 
blame, and again Justice was cheated of her victim. 

His success before Justice McCluer so encouraged our friend that 
lie determined to adopt the legal profession at once. He had made 
a favorable impression, and he knew it ; yet his common sense told 
him that he was not a lawyer. Business poured in upon him, and 
he took it, for to stop was as " perilous as go on." He opened an 
office, and by dint of unceasing labor, soon acquired what before he 
had assumed. 

The spring term of the circuit court for Barry county having 
lapsed, on account of the illness of the judge, he labored on without 
the benefit of a regular admission to practice until the July term 
following, when he was formally enrolled among the " Fratres Legi- 
hisr Cases at issue in courts of record had already been entrusted 
to him, and he had set about their preparation for trial with all the 
assiduity of an experienced attorney. Clients had given him their 
unexpected confidence, and fully determining to know no such word 
as fail^ he had worked day and night at his pleadings and briefs. 
Looseness in practice, and the moderate talent of the bench, were in 
his favor, and he soon availed himself of the advantage his industry 
gave him. He went into court boldly, stated his propositions 
clearly, and never failed to present an authority, if one was to be 

D 



LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



had. Immediately after the close of the term, feeling satisfied that 
the new town of Granby, in the adjoining county of Newton, offered 
greater professional inducements, he removed there with his family, 
now consisting of a wife and child. 

Granby, at this time, was to south-western Missouri what six years 
earlier California became to the United States, with this difference 
only, that the attraction was leaden, not auriferous. Its population, 
numbering between two and three thousand souls, was thrown in 
promiscuously, and naturally threw out an inordinate amount of 
litigation. The town arose in this wise: In 1855, one Robert 
Brock, from Wisconsin, purchased a tract of land in Newton 
county, and supposing it to contain lead, immediately went to 
prospecting, not only on it but on lands adjoining. Unluckily 
for him, he discovered the coveted deposit — not on his own 
possessions, but on what proved to be land belonging to the 
Pacific Railroad Company. In ignorance of its ownership, he kept 
his secret, and at once applied for a patent. Finding that the rail- 
road had one, he suddenly became large-hearted, and made his 
discovery public. This occurred in the winter of 1855-6. The 
veins of the mine were unusually rich, the mineral containing a 
very large per centum of pure ore, and being easily and conveniently 
worked. The announcement was electric ; and the lands belonging 
to a " soulless " corporation, the whole community yearned after the 
body. 

As usual, the worst spirits — foul as the witches of Macbeth — 
" squatted " first, and in an almost incredibly brief period of time a 
town arose. It was the gamblers' paradise. The "double-six" of 
the night charmed away the twelve hours' toil of daylight. The 
pistol and the knife gathered in what the pick and the crusher 
accumulated ; and when Mr. Worthington entered the town, it con- 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 39 

tained as complete an assortment of knaves, of high and low degree, 
as could be found outside of prison walls. There was some leaven, 
however, in this lump of humanity. A few honest men — trades- 
men and laborers — had located in Granby, and their number was 
steadily on the increase. They were powerless to maintain a high 
standard of order and morality, and they therefore contented them- 
selves with getting along as best they could. For a certain kind of 
practice, a lawyer could not have selected a better theatre. 

It would not be just to Mr. Worthington to say that he sought 
his future home for its then existing vileness ; yet it must be admit- 
ted, that a shrewd lawyer, in selecting a residence, will go where 
money and business excitement beckon, without making very partic 
ular inquiry into the morals of the place. The practice was, in a 
large part criminal, and Mr. Worthington took cases that brought 
fees ; though he was never in sympathy with the corrupt element of 
the town, and wished heartily to see the place purged of it. Justice 
was administered, or assumed to be, with the least possible regard 
for appearances. The officers of the law had generally one addi- 
tional calling, aside from those that imply knavery, and this not 
unfrequently the keeping of a south-western "grocery." Courts, 
especially justices', were held wherever chairs could be induced to 
approach each other, and tables had regard enough for the majesty 
of the law to stand on their legs. After wrangling in the court- 
room, where justice failed, perhaps, to maintain her balance, attor- 
neys, constables, jurors, clients, and witnesses would adjourn to one 
of these groceries, and there the goddess would lose her balance 
entirely. 

But even such occasions for an interchange of feeling, false or 
genuine, as the case might be, were not so often sought as a more 
convenient intimacy with the pleasure-giving contents of the " gro- 



40 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

ceries." The bottle was frequently brought into the court-room, 
placed in state before his *' Honor," and not out of reach of the law- 
yer \ and when the stream of justice began to run thick with 
doubts, objections, and quarrelsome citations, " forty-rod" whiskey 
was poured into it, and all became smooth again. With a law-book 
under his arm, and a knife and pistol in his belt, Mr. Worthington 
was wont to pass through the streets of Granby. He invariably 
carried weapons. The arrest of hardened offenders raised mobs, 
and an examination for commitment was the signal for rescue. He, 
however, prosecuted or defended — threatened life for life — was 
known to possess unflinching bravery, and was not molested. His 
practice grew large and lucrative, and he soon acquired the reputa- 
tion of being one of the shrewdest and most successful lawyers in 
south-western Missouri. By the Spring of 1857, the presence of 
the gambling, counterfeiting, and horse-stealing fraternity had 
become intolerable, and the respectable citizens of Granby employed 
Mr. Worthington to prosecute the ringleaders, and, if possible, 
purge the town. He procured the indictment of five, including 
one Berry Dodson, a constable. Eighty or ninety took fright and 
ran away, and the remainder were wise enough to hide their di- 
minished heads in silence, and assume the outward appearance at 
least, of respectability. The usual incidents of an attorney's life 
then attended Mr. Worthington, until war loomed up threateningly 
in the political horizon. 

On the last Monday of December, 1860, the Missouri State Legis- 
lature convened at Jefferson City, with a working majority of seces- 
sionists, or at least of tender-footed conditional Union men. A bill 
was speedily introduced calling for a convention to take into consid- 
eration the condition of the country. The bill was referred to the. 
Committee on Federal Relations, and reported back with a recom 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 41 

mendation that it pass. On its second reading it was amended by 
the insertion of a clause that whatever the action of the convention 
might be, it should be submitted to a vote of the people of the State. 
February, 18th, 1861, cotemporaneously with a similar event in Ar- 
kansas, the election was held for delegates to the convention. The 
district in which Mr. Worthington resided polled a large Union vote, 
and the State was carried by Union men. 

It is not our purpose to enter, in this connection, the field of 
general history. Let it suffice to say that the State did not secede. 
While the convention was in session, prominent rebels were un- 
tiringly at work, educating the masses for the ready adoption and 
hearty support of secession. Attempts were also made to organize 
the able-bodied men under an odious military bill of the previous 
winter. Resistance sprang up at once, and in Granby Mr, Worth- 
ington rallied the loyal men. Once a week they appeared on drill 
and at all times were ready to obey the call of any emergency that 
might be sprung upon them. Occasionally our friend appeared in 
public debate. At Bolivar, Polk county, in March, 1861, he boldly 
took issue with Hon. Waldo P. Johnson, giving the lie, to use plain 
language, to his unfounded calumnies, and to the assertion that 
northern men would not fight, declared himself one, and repeated 
the declaration that the statements of his antagonist were false, and 
he knew them to be so, and awaited the issue. None came — the 
meeting adjourned, and secession in Polk county received a serious 
check. He also met, in public discussion, the late rebel General 
Rains, and found no difiiculty in " driving him to the wall." 

On the retreat of General Price from Boonville in June, 1861, 
the military of South-western Missouri, not yet efiiciently organized, 
and to a considerable extent indecisive, especially in the vicinity of 
a large armed force, scattered. Mr. Worthington's company prov- 



42 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

ing, in part, to be men in buckram, he abandoned the militia and |' 
hastening to Springfield, offered his services as a scout and guide 
to General (then Colonel) Sigel. Rendering him essential aid in 
ascertaining the movements of General Price and those with whom 
he was co-operating, he started two days before the battle at 
Carthage, for Lamar, Barton county, to ascertain the strength and 
movements of a force under Generals Parsons and Rains, under- 
stood to be moving south to form a junction with Price. To cut 
off this force was Colonel Sigel's great object. 

One Nathan Bray, with whom Mr. Worthington was well 
acquainted, then lived at Lamar, and for reasons not necessary to 
allude to here, kept himself well advised of rebel movements in the 
South-west. This our friend knew, and determined, if possible, to 
see him. Arraying himself in orthodox " butternut," he made his 
way easily to Lamar, and entered the town. He was well acquainted 
in the county, and not having heard of any troops at or in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Lamar, anticipated no danger. But rebel uniforms 
are hard to describe; and alas for human calculations! our friend, on 
entering the town, saw the streets thronged with citizens apparently, 
but who nevertheless seemed to take an especial interest in him, 
and he soon found himself in "durance vile." Thus ended his 
scouting for the present. Sigel, however, fought Parsons and Rains, 
with Governor Jackson thrown in, at Carthage, and had he not 
received intelligence of the near apj^roach of Generals Price and 
McCulloch, with a greatly superior force — in fact they were then 
but twenty-two miles away — the result of the day's contest might 
have been very diflferent. As it was — but no matter — we are not 
essaying history. Our friend was at once ordered into close con- 
finement as a spy, and so held until after the battle of Carthage. 
The rebels, notwithstanding their success, moved in a southerly 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 43 

direction, taking Mr. Worthington with them. From this point 
until he was again master of his movements, we insert his own nar- 
rative : 

"We reached Cow-skin Prairie on the ninth of July, four days 
after the battle of Carthage. Here an ex parte examination was 
held in my case, by General Price, and it was decided that I should 
be retained as a prisoner during the war. I was then turned over to 
the custody of Lieutenant Still, Provost Marshal of Parson's division. 
Something now had to be done. The rebels of Rains' division 
resided in south-western Missouri, and were my inveterate enemies. 
To Parsons and his men I was an utter stranger. Knowing that an 
animosity had sprung up between Generals Parsons and Rains, 
which had communicated itself to their men, I determined to avail 
myself of this to the utmost. The evidence against me came entirely 
from Rain's division. I sought an interview with Parsons, and 
boldly told him that my confinement, and the charges that led to it, 
were malicious ; that the men who gave evidence against me w^ere 
my personal enemies ; that many of them were deeply indebted to 
me, and desired my death — hoping that thus their debts would be 
cancelled — while others were my political enemies. I also stoutly 
affirmed that I had always been a Slate Rights democrat and a 
Southern man. 

"About the time that I had this interview, we were joined by 
Pierce's brigade, from Arkansas. To most of the officers of the Fifth 
Regiment of that brigade I had been well known as a State's Rights 
democrat, and this circumstance confirmed what I had insisted upon 
before General Parsons. Among others, a Lieutenant Jones, of 
Carroll county, Arkansas, whom I had known some years before — 
by the way, an unprincipled and unpopular specimen of Secession- 
dom — undertook for fifty dollars to procure my release. Going to 



44 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

General Parsons, lie told him that I had been a rebel from the begin- 
ning, and used all his influence with the Arkansas officers in my 
favor. I was soon allowed the liberty of the camp, and this gave me 
still further opportunity to gain the confidence of the rebel officers. 
In this I made such progress, that on the 8tli day of August I was 
released from custody, but ordered to remain within the lines until 
after the approaching battle of Oak Hill (Wilson's Creek). This 
occurred on the 10th of that month. I was that morning with 
Lieutenant Jones, in the camp of the Fifth Arkansas, and was eating 
breakfast when the fight began. 

" The attack was made in that part of the general camp by Col. 
Sigel. In the confusion I was overlooked, and made my way to 
him, and acted with him as a guide until about noon, when I was 
wounded in the neck by a musket-ball. The Federal forces soon 
after gave way, and I was left on the field. During the evening I 
was picked up and taken to a hospital. In answer to inquiries from 
rebels, I stated that I had been wounded by the Federals in the first 
attack on the camp ; that I had endeavored to follow the rebel army 
until I sank with loss of blood. This tale, strengthened by Jones' 
representations, transformed me in rebel eyes from a Black Republi- 
can to a Southern hero. I was treated with the most marked 
attention, and on the 23d of August was sent out of camp with a 
commission from General Price, as a Captain in the Missouri State 
Guard." 

Thus ended an experience within the rebel lines, as singular as in 
its issue fortunate. Mr. Worthington's conduct was certainly very 
bold ; but " nothing risked, nothing had," and he determined to 
pursue a systematic course of deception, until he should accomplish 
his purposes, or, in other words, escape. The old Jesuitical maxim 
came to his aid, and not inquiring very critically into its morality, 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 45 

he employed any means that his circumstances rendered available in 
bringing about the desired end. The Missouri State Guard was prac- 
tically to him a nonentity. The captaincy therein, so trustingly ten- 
dered by a duped General, was not considered worth any active effort. 
The commission given served very well as a pass beyond the rebel 
lines, but the outside world once gained, it became functus officio. 

Mr. Worthington now returned home, and his wound being very 
troublesome apd painful, he was confined to the house until the first 
of November, Convalescing about that time, though he had very 
little strength in his wounded arm and shoulder, the rebel sympa- 
thizers in his vicinity became clamorous for his entry upon active 
service. They began also to regard him with suspicion, apprehend- 
ing he was deceiving those whose cause he had assumed to espouse. 
They were right; but Mr. Worthington was not yet ready to 
attempt his ultimate escape from the meshes that circumstances had 
woven around him. He was still corresponding with and enjoying 
the protection of General Parsons. He treated their threats there- 
fore with contempt, and quietly resolved to remain at home until 
his physical condition would admit of his joining the United States 
army. Its appearance was then confidently expected by the Union 
men of the South-west. General. Fremont came to Springfield with 
a grand army. Price was then at Pineville with disheartened and 
demoralized troops, and had a vigorous advance been made upon 
him, with the powerful force that Fremont controlled, he could, at 
least, have been driven from the State. An advance was, in fact, 
made by Sigel's Division to Crane Creek, thirty miles below Spring- 
field, and events looked promising. But something had gone wrong, 
and Fremont was removed. 

General Hunter on assuming command, fell back, and dividing his 
army, moved one portion to Sedalia and the other to Rolla. There 



46 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

may have been ample justification for this policy, but the people of 
South-western Missouri have not yet discovered it. Subsequent 
events have shown that Hunter could have driven everything before 
him, even to the Arkansas river, and it is an ineffaceable stain upon 
the national escutcheon, that General Price should have been per- 
mitted to take up his winter quarters in Springfield. The retrograde J 
movement commencing, the Union men of the South-western 
counties of the State became alarmed for their own safety. The 
near approach of the Federal army had inspirited them, but their 
hope failed, and those wlio could, escaped northward. There was 
no other alternative. To remain, involved service in the rebel 
army or death, and neither alternative was sufficiently inviting to 
make them forgetful of their first duty to themselves. 

The retirement of the Federal army was the signal for rebel bold- 
ness. Price's men took heart and retraced their steps. Mr. Worth- 
ington now considered himself in danger, and immediately made 
provision for his family during the winter. He gave out in conver- 
sation with both Union men and rebels, that he was intending to 
join the Confederate army and assume command of a company in 
Riley's regiment of Missouri State Guards. About the same time 
he wrote to General Parsons, stating his intention, as soon as his 
arrangements should be completed, and expressing a wish to com- 
mand a company in the regiment referred to. The letter was en- 
trusted to one Ryan, a genuine rebel, who returning brought an 
order from Parsons assigning Mr. Worthington to the desired com- 
mand. Suspicion was now allayed, and the current of his life flowed 
smoothly until New Year's day, 1862, when a band of guerillas, led by 

Wilburn and Cole arrested him. They alleged that he 

was intending to join the Federal forces at the first favorable oppor- 
tunity, and true to the instincts of their natures, plundered his home. 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTOX. 47 

It afterwards appeared that he had been reported by a little girl, who 
had overheard him tell his wife that he was going to P'ort Scott, then 
held by Kansas troops. Wilburn was one of the "grocery" keepers 
of Granby, and to his establishment the mob was marched. Liquor 
had added to their hate, and a glance at his captors convinced Worth- 
ington that but little mercy was to be expected. He therefore 
asked none. A rope was brought to " sft-etch his neck," as they 
considerately informed him, and for three hours he was alternately 
threatened and promised. They charged him with knowing where 
the Federal forces were, especially the "Kansas men," but they 
brow-beated to no purpose. 

By this time the news of his arrest had spread through the town, 
and been conveyed to one Captain "Whitney, then commanding a 
rebel Home Guard company. He was a personal friend of Worth- 
ington, and now interested himself in his behalf. Marching up a 
squad of men, he demanded his release, and after some little alter- 
cation it was agreed that he should be delivered to Captain Whitney. 
The Captain then liberated him, with orders to report in the morn- 
ing, when he would be furnished with an escort to Springfield, 
where the rebel army was then encamped. The same evening Mr. 
Worthington informed his wife that he should go at once either to 
Rolla or Fort Scott, determining his course after he had had an inter- 
view with Capt. Gullett of Lawrence county. That night he started 
and traveling until day-break, reached the house of his friend, and 
there learned that the Hunter and Lane expedition was about to 
move southward from Fort Scott. This intelligence shaped his course, 
and proceeding on foot, he arrived at Fort Scott on the lib. day of 
January. Here again we take up Mr. Worthington's narrative. 

"On arriving, I immediately went to Col. Judson, commanding 
the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, and enlisted as a private in company "A" 



48 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

of the regiment. On the following day I was appointed second 
duty sergeant of the company, and detailed to recruit for the regi- 
ment at Fort Scott. At this time guerrillas were overrunning south- 
western Missouri, driving Union men from their homes, and com- 
mitting numberless outrages upon persons and property. Singly 
and in small parties a large number came to Fort Scott. They 
were my neighbors and l^iends, and enlisted to such an extent that 
in a few days a full company was mustered. Being well acquainted 
with the country in south-western Missouri, I was shortly after my 
enlistment entrusted with the management of the scouts, in addition 
to my duties as a recruiting sergeant. On the first day of February 
I was appointed, by Col. Judson, regimental commissary sergeant, 
but as rations were drawn and issued tri-monthly only, this service 
did not materially interfere with my other duties. 

" The Union men of Missouri continued to be closely watched by 
the rebels to prevent their joining the Federal forces, and one of our 
most arduous duties was scouting into the State to bring them out. 
About the 3d of February, I left Fort Scott with seven men, dressed 
in "butternut," for Newton county, Missouri, eighty -five miles dis- 
tant. We represented ourselves as rebel scouts, in the employ of 
Colonel Stan Waitie, whose regiment was in the Indian country. 
South-west Missouri was at the time full of straggling bands of rebel 
soldiers, the country being in their possession, and General Price 
occupying Springfield. At Indian Creek, ten miles south of Neosho, 
which place was reached the fourth day after leaving the Fort, we 
commenced operations by attacking and dispersing a party of twelve 
guerrillas, under one Doctor Cummiugs, killing three men and 
taking seven horses. We then moved rapidly six miles north, to 
Granby, and surprised and captured nine soldiers belonging to the 
army at Springfield, took their horses and arms, and paroled them* 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 49 

"We now gave out tliat we were part of a combined movement, 
under Colonel Jennison ; that all the roads were occupied by our 
troops, and that we intended taking in all the home guards and 
straggling soldiers in the country. We then moved on very rapidly 
from point to point, through the country, arming and taking with us 
all the Union men we could persuade to leave. The rebels, believ- 
ing we were in the brush in great force, made no attempt to concen- 
trate, and the result was, that in three days we had been reinforced 
by twenty loyal men, whom we had mounted and armed ; had 
paroled thirteen prisoners and retained thirty-seven ; taken forty- 
three horses, besides those rode by the prisoners and recruits, and 
eighteen mules ; and as we were now so much encumbered, and 
expecting that a scout would be sent from Springfield, we com- 
menced a rapid retreat towards Fort Scott. On the 9th of Feb- 
ruary we reached Langley Farm, six miles from Carthage, where we 
encountered a rebel captain named Potts, with sixty men. I im- 
mediately drew up my men in order of battle, in the " brush," 
placing my prisoners in line, and thus displaying a force of sixty- 
four men. 

"Our loose horses were sent to the rear, and thus disposed, we 
waited the attack of the enemy. They remained in line about half 
a mile from us, and then advanced into the "brush" on our right, 
for the purpose of attacking us in the rear. Discovering this move- 
ment, I started our loose horses, mules and prisoners across Spring 
river towards Fort Scott, sixty miles distant, placing them in charge 
of a corporal and six men. With twenty-one men I now drew up, 
on the north bank of the river referred to, and determined to dis- 
pute its passage at all hazards, and cover, if possible, the retreat of the 
prisoners and stock. The enemy soon appeared in sight, approach- 
ing the ford, but one volley cooled their ardor, and they fell back 



60 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

halting about seven hundred yards from the river. They there re- 
mained, apparently in consultation, about two hours, and then with- 
drew entirely from our sight. We were not strong enough to 
pursue, and resuming our march, arrived safely at Fort Scott, on the 
evening of the twelfth of the month, without having lost a man or 
a horse." 

Thus ended one of a series of scouting expeditions on the border, 
which, however it may have been at variance with the modes 
of regular warfare, gave aid to Union men, and in the army parlance 
of the South-west, " everlastingly woke up" the rebels. On the 
4th of March Mr. Worthington left camp alone, under orders from 
Colonel Deitzler, commanding the forces in Southern Kansas, to 
proceed to the Arkansas line, and ascertain carefully the quantity 
of forage and the probability of sustaining a cavalry force in the 
country. He was absent five days, and returned, reporting 
favorably. No events worthy of special notice had occurred. His 
mission, however, was perilous, and called for the exercise of that 
coolest type of courage, the daring of the scout. 

Early in the month, the Fifth Kansas Cavalry and three com- 
panies of the Sixth moved southward from Fort Scott, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant Colonel Clayton of the Fifth, and established a 
post at Carthage. The three companies of the Sixth were shortly 
afterwards at Bower's Mill, on Spring river, fifteen miles further 
east, and making that point their base of operations, were actively 
engaged in clearing the surrounding country of guerilla bands and 
in giving aid to the militia then enrolling in South-west Missouri, 
until the 8th day of April, when they were ordered to Fort Scott, 
and the Fifth Kansas to Rolla. On the 2nd of the month, Mr. 
Worthington had been dangerously wounded in a skirmish, and 
when his company moved, was lying at Mount Vernon, unable to 



JOHN I. WORTHIXGTON. 51 

accompany it. About the 1st of June, being now able to ride on 
horseback, he set out with Colonel Richardson of the 14th 
Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, on an expedition to Neosho. Ap- 
proaching Granby, Mr. Worthington was sent forward with twenty- 
five men to attack the notorious marauder Livingston, who, with 
his band were supposed to be hovering in its vicinity. They were 
fallen in with, when a sharp running fight ensued, and five of the 
gang were killed. A ball, fired by Livingston himself, grazed 
Worthington's cheek, but beyond this, no injuries were received by 
him or his party. They now followed the main command which 
had moved on to Neosho. Here, three days later, Colonel Richard- 
son was attacked by Coff'ee and Waite, with a force of twelve 
hundred men, whites and Indians. His own mustering but one 
hundred and seventy-five men, fit for duty, he was compelled to 
return, which he did without serious loss. 

Mr. Worthington remained for a time in and about Mount Ver- 
non, scouting with the militia, and waiting for an opportunity to 
go to Paoli, fifty miles north-west of Fort Scott, where his regiment 
was then stationed. On the 21st of July he received authority 
from Colonel M. LaRue Harrison, commanding the First Arkansas 
Cavalry, to raise a company for that regiment. Knowing that 
there would be no difiiculty in obtaining a discharge from the Sixth 
Kansas, if he succeeded in this new enterprise, he immediately went 
to work with great vigor, and so well did he succeed that on the 
Yth of August his company was mustered into service. In the 
latter part of this month it was deemed advisable to send a scouting 
party into Carroll county, Arkansas, and a force of one hundred 
men from the First Arkansas Cavalry was ordered out, commanded 
by Captain Charles Galloway, with Capt. Worthington as second in 
authority. 



62 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



Leaving Springfield, Missouri, they moved rapidly to Berryville, 
in Carroll county, without meeting opposition, or discovering any 
but straggling marauders, thence still more speedily to Carrollton, 
the county seat. Here they observed a guerrilla band strongly 
posted on a bluff, a short distance east of the town, and partially 
concealed by a rude breastwork of logs. They had evidently in- 
tended to " stand," and seemed to think themselves secure against 
cavalry. Captain Worthington was ordered to gain their rear, if 
possible, by a fiank movement to the right. The nature of the 
ground not admitting this, he dismounted his men, and advanced 
thirty-six to within two hundred yards of their position. They still 
betrayed no signs of fear, and were evidently in no hurry to get 
away. Unfortunately they were not prepared for the range of the 
Whitney rifle, with which the First Arkansas is armed, and very 
soon concluded that safety lay in flight. Immediate pursuit fol- 
lowed, but the usual celerity of "bushwhackers" saved all but two, 
who were taken prisoners. Several horses and guns, and some 
camp equipage were captured. 

Learning that a force much larger than his own was in the vicin- 
ity, Capt. Galloway deemed it prudent to retire. He then fell back 
to a strong position on Yokumn's Creek, and awaited their advance, 
expecting a night attack. They came, in fact, within two miles of 
him, but anticipating, apparently, an ambuscade, and believing, 
doubtless, that discretion was the better part of valor, fell back. 
Galloway now hastened to Springfield, losing neither man nor horse, 
having penetrated eighty miles into the enemy's country, carry- 
ing terror to the marauders with whom Carroll county was infested, 
and enabling a number of Union families to escape from further 
persecution and outrage. 

In September, while the rebels were in possession of Cassville, and 






JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 53 

Capt. Gil strap, of the First Arkansas Cavalry, was stationed with his 
company at Crane Creek, to watch them, Galloway and Worthing- 
ton, with a detachment of one hundred men, were ordered to 
cooperate with him in a descent on the town. Early on the morn- 
ing of the 21st the dash was made. It was a complete surprise, 
and resulted in some excellent "skedaddling." — [From the Greek 
Hxedd^ai — to scatter.] The notorious Hawthorne was among the 
first to leave. Others were not so fortunate, though they seemed 
to prefer flight to powder and ball. Several were killed, and more 
taken prisoners, who, with a number of horses, were sent to Spring- 
field. 

On the 18th of October, the second battalion, to which Captain 
Worthington's company belonged, were ordered to Elk Horn Tav- 
ern. While there, it was engaged in numerous scouting expeditions,^ 
but especially in one to the source of the White river, and another' 
growing out of this. The first, consisting of a detachment from the 
same battalion. Major Thomas J. Hunt, commanding, proceeded 
early in November to the head of the west fork of White river, dis- 
persing several gathering bands of home guards, and capturing a 
larfije number of horses. While returning, five men separating from 
the command, failed to report on its arrival at Elk Horn. A fev*" 
days afterwards, it was ascertained, as the news came in, that they 
had been " gobbled up" by Ingraham's men, a notorious band of 
bushwhackers, infesting Benton and Washington counties. 

On the fifteenth of the month, Capt. Worthington and his com- 
mand, with twenty -five men from squadron "B," under Lieutenant 
Wilhite, were dispatched to " gobble up" the " gobblers." Reach- 
ing Pearson's Bend, in White river, thirty miles south of Elk Horn 
Tavern, Capt. Worthington learned that Ingraham, with from thirty 
to forty of his followers, was concealed in a cave two miles distant. 



54 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

The place was inaccessible to cavalry, and it was therefore necessaiy 
that the attack should be made on foot. Darkness had now set in, 
and the night was cloudy. Dismounting his men, and leaving a 
sufficient number to guard the horses, with the remainder he moved 
cautiously towards the cave. Advancing a mile and a half, an 
armed man was descried, and without ceremony shot. They now 
pushed forward through the darkness more rapidly, but still cau- 
tiously, the men grasping the scabbards of their sabres to prevent 
betrayal from that source. The " bushwhackers" heard the firing, 
but as men for reconnoitering purposes were kept out in different 
directions, they were in doubt as to its cause. The cave was de- 
fended in front by a rock, and on either side by a rough breast-work 
of logs. 

Dividing his men, and stealing up in order, every man armed 
with rifle and sabre, and many of them also with Colt's " Navy 
sixes," the most acceptable revolver in the south-west, at ten paces 
from the cave a sentinel hailed them. He was answered with the 
crack of a Whitney rifle. Instantly the hill was lit up with the 
flashes of guns, and then, for the first time, the bold beseigers be- 
came aware of the formidable character of the " bushwhackers' " 
position, and the difficulty of driving them from their rude fortress. 
But they were all marksmen, and though guided alone by the most 
transient of lights, pressed up dauntlessly to the breast-work and 
endeavored, yet unsuccessfully, to scale it. The daring of the attack, 
however, overawed the beseiged, and they fell back to an opening 
leading from the cave to the river. Captain Worthington now 
ordered his men to fire between the logs and the crevices in the 
rocks, and this they did with such effect, although the darkness was 
intense, and it was impossible to aim with precision, that in a few 
minutes, the " bushwhackers" retreated precipitately. Two of them 



JOHN I. WORTHINGTON. 55 

■V. 

were killed, five wounded, and five horses and nine guns were taken. 
The only casualty upon the other side was the slight wounding of 
G. A. Hottenhauer, First Sergeant of squadron "B." The party 
now returned to Elk Horn, and for a time Ingraham ceased to be 
troublesome. Captain Worthington continued in active service at 
Elk Horn, now sitting on a military commission, and now scouring 
the adjacent country, until the day before the advance in that direc- 
tion, of the second and third divisions of the Army of the Frontier, 
a short time prior to the battle of Praire Grove. He was present 
with his command at that engagement, but it being almost exclu- 
sively a contest with infantry and artillery, he was not ordered 
under fire. 

He now commands the Provost Guard of the divisions mentioned, 
and is energetic and efiicient in the discharge of his duty. Quick 
to discern and prompt to execute — a safe counselor and a bold 
leader, he is admirably fitted for the service of the South-west ; and 
if life and health are spared, will yet make the foes of the govern- 
ment feel the force of his avenging arm. 

Camp at Prairie Grove, Ark., 
December, 1862. 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 



On the lOth of November, 1862, the writer was ordered from 
Springfield, Missouri, to Elk Horn Tavern to take command of the 
first and second battalions of the First Arkansas Cavalry Volunteers, 
then holding the post. At that time, the second and third divisions 
of the Army of the Frontier had fallen back into Missouri, and the 
first, Gen. Blunt commanding, was in camp on Lindsey's prairie, near 
the line between north-western Arkansas and the Cherokee Nation. 
Elk Horn Tavern, situated on Pea Ridge, Arkansas, and itself the 
centre of the fiercest fighting of the three days' conflict of March 
last, is a rude old fashioned structure, on the Virginian model of a 
hundred years gone. Its overhanging roof and capacious chimneys, 
built up sturdily from the outside, as though scorning modern im- 
provements, give it an air of comfort, and in the days of the over- 
laud mail, its good cheer was most ample. 

At the time we mention, it was an outpost for the main body of 
the Army of the Frontier, then lying from forty to fifty miles east 
of it. Gen. Blunt was forty miles nearly due-west, but relied on this 
post to facilitate his dispatches to Gen. Curtis, commanding the 
Department of the Missouri. 

The military telegraph had lately been continued to Elk Horn, 
and it was therefore of great importance to hold the post. 

There was no intermediate office between Elk Horn and Spring- 
field — strange, too, that there was none at Cassville — and had the 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN, 57 

post been abandoned, two days' hard riding by messengers, with all 
the delays and dangers incident thereto, would have been added to 
the vexations —always numerous enough — of keeping up a long line 
of communication. Moreover, the place was threatened by guer- 
rillas, an insignificant enemy when the movements of a grand army 
are considered, but by no means to be sneered at in defending out- 
posts, generally weak in numbers, and always hazardous in position. 

Such was Elk Horn Tavern — a town of one house — on the 14th 
day of November, 1862. Scarcely had the writer arrived, when 
information came in that the wires had been cut. Keitsville, as 
pestiferous a place as can be found above ground, lay ten miles 
north-easterly, and a detachment was at once sent up the road to 
trace the depredators and repair damages. The evidences of the 
mischief were discovered near the town referred to, but the wily 
rascals who caused it, had taken to the " brash." Administering 
some wholesome advice to the inhabitants of the neighborhood, 
that closed with the significant intimation that if the off"ence was 
repeated, not a house would be left standing for miles along the 
highway, the officer in command returned with his party to Elk 
Horn. The threat had its efiect, and for weeks the line was un- 
disturbed. 

On the morning of the 1 5th, a scouting party was sent out under 
the command of Captain Worthington of company H, to scour the 
country adjacent to White river, to rescue five men who had 
recently been captured by Ingraham's band, and if possible, " take 
in" Ingraham himself. While out, there occurred the fight in the 
dark, to which allusion has already been made. Ingraham, how- 
ever, was not captured, and is still at large, robbing and retreating. 
The same day were furnished twenty-five men to escort the daughters 
of Isaac Murphy to their home in Huntsville, forty miles distant. 



58 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

On the morrow, arriving within a mile and a half of the place, it 
was deemed prudent to allow the young ladies to go on alone. 
There were no appearances of danger, no rumors afloat, and the 
men were permitted to dismount. They had stopped at the base of a 
small hill, near an intersection of roads, and the surrounding country 
was favorable for a surprise. Suddenly between sixty and seventy 
horsemen dashed in upon them. A few sprang into the saddle. 
Others were unable to, and took to the woods, and still others were 
captured, A feeble resistance was made, and those who escaped 
were very much inclined to say, each to the other, put not your 
trust in appearances. 

The detachment, save the prisoners, seven in number, came 
finally into camp, and all reports concurred in the fact, that the 
attack was made by regulars aided by a number of home guards. 
The information was important enough to warrant reconnoitering, 
and accordingly on the l7th inst.. Major Johnson, commanding the 
First battalion was sent out with a detachment of two hundred men, 
with orders to penetrate as far as Huntsville if he should consider it 
prudent to do so, at all events to ascertain whether any considerable 
force had actually moved up from below. Such a demonstration was 
not improbable, for many of the Missourians in the Trans-Mississippi 
army were known to be disaffected, and claiming for an advance in 
the direction of their homes. Starting in a severe rain storm that 
continued for thirty-six hours without cessation, Major Johnson 
forded White river with diflaculty, and then pushed on rapidly 
towards Huntsville. When within ten miles of the town, he was 
met by loyal citizens, known to be such, who confirmed the surmises 
then current at Elk Horn, even among citizens of Huntsville, that 
there was at that place at least a brigade of rebel soldiery. 

Major Johnson now threw out his scouts, placing a trusty oflScer 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 59 

in charge, who reported a confirmation of the previous statements, 
and added to their definiteness by rehearsing the story of certain 
persons, who declared solemnly that they had themselves seen can- 
non in the streets of Huntsville, pointed in the direction in which 
the Federals were expected to approach. The White river was now 
rising rapidly, and the danger of being cut off serious, in case a 
retreat should become necessary. Those who ought to know had 
informed Major Johnson of the condition of affairs at Huntsville, 
and having been ordered out to reconnoitre simply, he wisely con- 
cluded to return before the White river should effectually bar him. 
His command were compelled to swim the stream, as it was, and 
two horses were drowned. 

But the sequel showed how a party of reconnoisance can be de- 
ceived. There had only been at Huntsville those who attacked the 
escort, mostly Jackman's men, and these secretly made their way 
into Missouri, directly after the skirmish. Madame Rumor, and 
citizens whose selfish fear of a foraging party was more powerful 
than their patriotism, ruled the hour, and dispatches were forwarded 
to headquarters that would have answered very well as addenda to 
"The Arabian Nights" or " Sinbad the Sailor." 

There were at this time in confinement at Elk Horn, certain citi- 
zens of Arkansas, against whom charges had been preferred for 
off'ences known to military law. 

Among them was one John Bell, a tenant of David Walker, of 
convention memory. On the morning of the 16th his wnfe drove 
within the pickets, accompanied by a lady, well dressed and intelli- 
gent. Her conduct exciting the suspicion of John Camp, of Fay- 
etteville, then a refugee at Elk Horn, she was arrested. Of course 
she must know why, and expressed very great surprise that she 
should be so severely dealt with. She declared positively that she 



60 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

came simply as a companion for Mrs. Bell, and to aid in effecting 
the release of her husband. Moreover, that she had left her " little 
one " at Fayetteville, and was very anxious to return to him. Upon 
further inquiry the " little one " proved to be a boy thirteen years if 
age, and her general conduct continuing to be suspicious, it was 
concluded that she would " do to hold." 

The tavern was occupied in part by the wife and family of its 
owner, then in the rebel army, and with them Mrs. Vestal was 
domiciled. She was frequently observed looking searchingly down 
the Fayetteville road, and often enquired for the newspapers, always 
wishing the latest. Like a true student of the times, she invariably 
scanned the telegraphic columns first, and seemed to be deeply 
interested in the war budget. She was a puzzle to us all, and on 
the lYth, Capt. Martin D. Hart, of Texas, then at Elk Horn with a 
number of Texans who were making their way homeward with the 
view of raising a regiment, was granted the privilege of taking such 
a course as he might choose to adopt, for the purpose of ascertaining 
her real character. By arrangement, it was represented to Mrs. 
Vestal that an imprisoned Texan captain wished, if agreeable, to 
have an interview with her. It had been previously ascertained that 
she had traveled in Texas, and the request was eagerly acceded to. 
Arrayed in " butternut " of the most approved color, Capt. Hart 
was marched to her apartment under guard, the sentry remaining 
at the door. He introduced himself as a Captain Watrous, of Hunt 
county, a veritable officer in the rebel army, and soon acquired her 
confidence. She now informed him that she had left Van Buren on 
the Tuesday previous ; that between twenty thousand and thirty 
thousand men were assembled there and in the vicinity ; that the 
cavalry advance was at Cane Hill, and that thirty days' rations were 
being prepared for a forward movement. 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 61 

She further exhorted him to be of good cheer ; told him that he 
need not be uneasy about his situation, and that if he should reach 
the Confederate army before she did, he must not fail to inform a 
certain Missouri regiment of her arrest and detention. 

" But, Captain," at length shrewdly suggested his fair confidantr 
" I did not see you in the guard-house this morning when I visited 
it with Mrs. Bell." 

" Oh ! I am an officer," was the ready reply, " and they allow me 
the liberty of the camps." But the position was becoming critical, 
and the prisoner Hart, alias Watrous, thought it about time to beat 
a retreat. He therefore excused himself, not wishing to intrude 
himself too much upon the lady's time, and signifying to the guard 
his readiness to be taken away, bowed himself out and was formally 
marched oflF. The following morning this Vestal, in name at least, 
was taken to Cassville, thence to be forwarded to the Provost Mar- 
shal General at Springfield. Mrs. Bell remained at Elk Horn long 
enough to find out that her husband could not return with her, 
when she departed for home, a sadder but a wiser woman. While 
Mrs. Vestal's case was under consideration, and a military commis- 
sion was sitting, events were thickening below. 

On the 15th, General Blunt had telegraphed that Marmaduke 
with five thousand cavalry and four pieces of artillery was at Rhea's 
Mill on the 14th, and that Hindman with a large infantry force was 
coming up from Mulberry creek to join him. He, nevertheless, 
expressed the determination to .fight them, but desired active 
scouting in the direction of Elm springs, Fayetteville and the 
White river. The enemy, however, fell back across the Boston 
mountains, and for a time it was thought by those who wear the 
stars, that he would retreat, not only to Van Buren, but thence to 
Little Rock. These conjectures proved to be incorrect. Marma- 



^2 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

duke again advanced, and General Blunt, to cripple the enemy 
before they should be able to concentrate, made a forced march of 
thirty-five miles, and attacked the rebel cavalry at Cane Hill, driving 
them back in disorder to the Boston Mountains. He now took a 
position and waited developments. It soon became apparent that 
Hindman was intending a general advance, and dispatches for head- 
quarters came " thick and fast " to Elk Horn. 

Though General Blunt is the personification of bravery, and when 
the danger was imminent of being attacked by far superior numbers, 
could characteristically predict " one of the d — dest fights or foot 
races ever heard of," he was not unmindful of the necessity for 
reinforcements. More than once he telegraphed to briuo- forward 
the second and third divisions, but their advance was tardy, and 
when General Herron arrived at Elk Horn at noon, on the 5th 
of December, Blunt's pickets were engaging the rebel vanguard. 
While these events were passing, the cavalry at Elk Horn were 
not idle. 

Orders were received to scout thoroughly to Yelville, seveuty- 
^ve miles in one direction ; to Huntsville, forty-five miles in another ; 
and indefinitely towards Fayetteville and beyond. Aside from 
these orders received by telegraph, came a formal letter of instruc- 
tions from the Commander of the Army of the Frontier. It ran in 
part as follows : 

"That no misapprehension may exist, this is to inform you that 
your forces are expected to continually scout and scour all the 
country within your reach. One-half of the command may be on 
distant scouts all the time ; the other portion should be constantly 
employed in your immediate neighborhood. No part of your forces 
should be idle at any time. You are expected to rid all the country 
within your reach of all small bands, guerrillas, provost guards, &c.. 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 63 

&c. Your forces should continually harass the enemy by driving 
in pickets and skirmishing with advanced guards and detached 
parties, capturing forage trains and commissary ivagons. No limit 
is placed upon the country through which you may act, but you 
are expected to go wherever you can, without unnecessarily jeopar- 
dizing your command. You are to relieve the Union people and 
punish the treasonable. Unfailing activity and the utmost vigilance 
are demanded at your hands. One large party, consisting of about 
one-half of your command, should be pushed near the enemy's lines 
and kept out all the time, capturing pickets, &c., and you may even 
go in rear of the enemy's forces, and do them all the damage you 
possibly can. Feel the enemy often, and communicate all infor- 
mation you may obtain. This force should be relieved by the other 
half after a scout of five or six days." 

All this was expected from two battalions of cavalry, who had 
never been one hour in a camp of instruction ; and though now in 
the service from eight to nine months, under the most distressing 
circumstances, and called out by special order from the War De- 
partment, had, up to this time, been only partially clothed — there 
was not an overcoat in the line — and has never been paid. Added 
to this, they were not attached to any division in the Army of the 
Frontier. Campaigning by itself, the regiment was ordered first by 
one general and then another — the innocent shuttlecock between 
distant battledoors. 

But the men knew the country where they were operating. They 
were on their native hills again, and were active and zealous in 
their efforts to support that Government, loyalty to which had 
caused them so much suffering. Scouting was maintained with 
vigor. Frequent inroads were made into the enemy's country — a 
party striking here to-day and there to-morrow — now moving 



64 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

around Fayetteville, and driving in Marraaduke's pickets at Cane 
Hill, and again dashing into Huntsville, or fighting the " bush- 
■wbackers" of Carroll county after their own method. At the same 
time men were needed to keep open telegraphic communication 
with the East, and occasionally to forward messages of the first 
importance to General Blunt. 

Within the lines of the post, matters were more quiet. The 
" tavern " soon became a central point for the neighborhood, many 
of the citizens being attracted to it by their own necessities, and 
some, no doubt, from motives that would not bear the test of scru- 
tiny. Women on horseback, with boys en croupe^ and sacks in 
their hands, clamored for salt. Twenty-five cents a quart, payable 
in eggs, butter, chickens, money, the genuine ringing silver, any- 
thing for the saline treasure. Had Lot's wife been crystallized at 
Elk Horn, the monument of her disobedience would have been 
hailed as manna from above. 

We had taken with us, for individual use, a bushel of ' fine table' 
and it so happened that just at that time, no one else had any 
to spare. The persistent women soon found this out, and we 
were compelled to go to bartering for our mess. It availed no- 
thing to insist that we had already traded for fifteen chickens, had 
ten quail, and more butter and eggs than we knew what to do 
with. 

" No, you must give me at least a quart. You have sold Mrs. 
Jones and Mrs. Smith some, and I need it as much as they do. 
Now you hav'nt got any pies, and I've some of the nicest you ever 
saw. I dried the peaches myself^'' We took the pies and when 
that bushel of salt disappeared, made light drafts on the commis- 
sary. 

Prisoners were frequently brought in, poor, ignorant deluded 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 6(5- 

men, the rough work of the rebellion. Examinations were pro- 
tracted or otherwise, according to circnmstances, and, aside from 
their revelation of the dark phases of this revolt, the terrible effect 
of secession upon the poor and confiding, their occasional ludicrous- 
ness is deserving possibly of a passing notice. 

" What is your name ?" said the provost marshal, to one of them. 

" AVhich ?" 

" What is your name, I say ?" repeated the officer. 

" Still." 

" I know, but what is your first name ?" 

"J." 

" No, it is'nt," chimed in his wife, pettishly. " Lilburn J. Can't 
you understand the provo ?" 

" Well," continued the marshal, " what does the J. stand for V^ 

" I don't know, I'm no scholar," replied the imperturbable Still.- 

"That all maybe," said the marshal, now a little vexed, "but 
you certainly must know what that J. means." 

"I don't sir," I did'nt put it there. You'll have to ask pap- 
I reckon." 

The provost marshal, now concluding that some other person 
would certainly have to be interrogated before the point could be 
cleared up, proceeded with the other features of the case. 

One day in December, the pickets brought in a seedy, sallow vag- 
abond looking individual, wearing an old straw hat, and clothed 
otherwise in the ubiquitous " butternut." He represented himself 
as from Lawrence county, Missouri, whither he was traveling with a 
sick wife. Further inquiry drew from him the assertion that he had 
been conscripted into the rebel service, and belonged to Bryant's 
battalion. He seemed familiar also with the topography of Benton 
county, and spoke freely of prominent rebels living there 



66 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

When brought to head quarters, it so happened that Lieutenant 
Thompson, of company "F," itself from Benton county, was in the 
room. While questioning the man pretty sharply, Capt. Wimpy, 
likewise from Benton, came to the door. 

Hearing his own name mentioned, and seeing at once what was 
going on, a sly wink from the Lieutenant turned the case over to 
him. 

" Where did you say you have been ?" 

'' In the southern army ; I was conscripted." 

" Where do you live ?" 

" In Lawrence county, Missouri, when I am to home." 

" They don't conscript up there," continued the captain. 

" Well, I run down har to git out of the way of the army, and 
they picked me up," replied the prisoner not at all disturbed. 

" You are acqainted in Benton county, I understand ? " 

" I am that," with emphasis. 

"You mentioned Wimpy's name a little while ago, Wimpy, 
Wimpy ! " said the captain, thoughtfully, " what Wimpy was that ?" 

" Dick Wimpy. He's a ' Fed' captain." 

" You know him, of course, when you see him," continued the 
captain enquiringly, and looking him steadily in the face. 

" I reckon I do," replied the prisoner, with a confident air. " I 
was at his house oncst ; but I know his wife a heap better than I 
do him. He was away most of the time." 

This was consoling, but the captain seeing that he was not recog- 
nized, began again. 

" Were the ' rebs ' after Wimpy ? " 

Prisoner, knowingly, " You bet. They watched his house." 

" Who watched it ? " 

^' Wilson Woodward was one." 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 67 

" Anybody else ? " 

" I can't remember now." 

Captain (still a little curious to see if the fellow did really know 
anything about him, for he told the truth when he mentioned Wilson 
Woodward) " What sort of a fellow is this Wimpy ? " 

" Wei], he's a brave chap. I'd bet on him quicker ''an 1 would 
on jive acesV 

The captain's modesty now overcame him, and he beat a retreat, 
not, however, until he had informed the forward individual that he 
was the veritable Wimpy in question. 

Five minutes afterward a blank countenance went to the guard 
house. 

While incidents of this character were arising at Elk Horn, army 
movements on the frontier were approaching a crisis. On the 3d 
of December dispatches were received, ordering all our available 
force, leaving barely sufficient to guard the post, to Fayetteville, 
from which place a strong reconnoitering party was to be sent out on 
the Cane Hill road. That night Colonel Harrison arrived with a part 
of the third battalion, and a supply of quartermaster stores. As 
soon as these could be issued he pressed on, leaving only a portion 
of two squadrons to guard the post. This was on the morning of 
the 6th. At noon of that day the advance of the third division, 
under Colonel Wickersham, of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, 
galloped up. It did not come too soon. The perilous position of 
General Blunt had been known for several days, and telegraphed to 
head-quarters ; and we, at Elk Horn, wondered why the army at 
Camp Curtis did not move. But, we were either civilians or subor- 
dinates, and in military strictness we suppose this was none of our 
business. The arrival of the advance was hailed, nevertheless, with 
delight, and when later in the day, the entire division passed by, fol- 



©S LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

lowed hard on the morrow by the second, Colonel Huston, Seventh 
Cavalry Missouri Volunteers, commanding, we breathed more freely. 

Two days before, it was known that General Blunt confidently 
expected an attack within forty-eight hours, and the news had just 
come in of the engagement of his pickets. General Herron could 
not, therefore, move too rapidly. His march to Elk Horn had been 
quickly, very quickly made ; but Blunt was in imminent peril and 
Herron felt the necessity of losing no time in going to his assistance. 
Still, his men were exhausted, and bivouacked for the nischt near 
Sugar Creek. He remained himself at the tavern, and on the fol- 
lowing morning was off with his staff at day light. 

And now we anxiously awaited the march of events as well as 
men. Our little post seemed like a deserted village, and was almost 
ready to be driven into the ground. The jay-hawking propensities 
of some of the soldiery had stripped us of our forage, burned up the 
fence rails which hitherto we had claimed the exclusive privilege of 
" guarding," killed all our " turkeys " of the porcine species, and — 
which last offense we charge to General Herron's aids in black — 
made off with our camp stool, broom, candlestick and two chickens 
that our salt had bought. 

We had our humble apprehensions for the fate of the army. 
Blunt had been ordered to fall back two days march on Herron, but 
had not done so. He still stood his ground with dogoed resolution 
that death only could overcome. Evidently it was Hindman's 
intention to attack and route him before reinforcements could arrive, 
and had he done so, one more general would probably have been 
" retired," if not given the unenviable distinction of a disastrous 
court martial. But success is the favorite test of merit, and General 
Blunt's disobedience of orders, will not impair his reputation. 

From Sugar Creek the army under Herron marched with great 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 69 

rapidity, halting at Fayetteville no longer than was absolutely 
necessary to refresh tired men and horses. Early in the morning of 
the 7th he pushed on toward Prairie Grove, ten miles distant. The 
battle fought that day, though a decided success for the government, 
was a chapter of accidents. Blunt had expected to attack in a 
certain direction at day-light, and had sent out the night before a 
strong patrol to watch the road, up which the rebels were expected 
to come ; but from some cause or other they failed to accomplish 
the object of their mission, and before morning the enemy passed 
towards Prairie Grove, and attacked a portion of the Seventh Cav- 
alry, Missouri Volunteers, who, falling back on the First Arkansas 
Cavalry, then by order moving with its train to General Blunt, threw 
it likewise into confusion, and all together retreated across Illinois 
Creek, skirting the northern side of Crawford's Prairie, the scene of 
the battle. Herron, with his infantry and artillery, now came up, 
(the cavalry had been hurried forward to Blunt) and the rebel 
pursuers fell back across the creek. 

It is not our purpose to enter into the details of this action. It 
is well known that Herron alone fought far superior numbers until 
late in the afternoon, when Blunt, having found where the rebels 
were, commenced a tremendous cannonading on their left, accom- 
panied with a heavy fire of musketry. 

It is said of Hindman, by those who were near his person, and 
endeavoring to obey his orders, that he gave them confusedly and 
in a high state of excitement, disheartening to his own aids, and 
when Blunt opened on him so terribly and the failing fortunes of the 
day began ominously to loom up, the pressure was too great and 
his self-possession seemed entirely to forsake him. For hours he 
had held a large force in reserve, infantry, cavalry and artillery, to 
attack Blunt in another quarter, and now they were too far away to 



To LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



■ 



successfully oppose him. Herron, meantime, was hotly pressi 
The daring valor of his infantry was beyond all praise, but superior 
numbers were telling fearfully on their ranks, and the rebels had 
every advantage of position. 

Gen. Herron was a beaten commander, though he may not have 
known it, when Blunt thundered away on bis right. On the other 
hand, had not Herron moved up so gallantly and attacked the 
rebels with such remarkable vigor, when we think of the wearisome 
march of his army — one hundred and ten miles in seventy-two 
hours — Blunt's position would have been extremely critical. Hind- 
man crossed the Boston Mountains with twelve thousand five hundred 
effective men — no more, no less — for the express purpose of attack- 
ing Blunt, and nothing but the ken of prophecy could have foretold 
his fate, had tbe rebel general moved on the train at Rhea's mill, 
as he could have done, had not Herron opportunely appeared at 
Crawford's prairie. The relief was mutual. Herron saved Blunt 
and Blunt saved Herron. 

All day long the cannonading had been terrific, and when night set 
in, the caissons in Herron's batteries were nearly empty. It was not 
known but that Hindman would attack in the morning, and had he 
done so, the splendidly served artillery of the seventh must shortly 
have been limbered to the rear for want of ammunition. Herron 
saw the exigency, and forthwith dispatched a trusty messenger to 
hasten with all speed up the Fayetteville road, and hurry forward 
the ammunition train. The messenger was told that he ought cer- 
tainly to meet it five miles beyond Fayetteville, and that it could 
not possibly be further away than Cross Hollows. He was directed 
however to ride on until he met it, and urge it, urge it forward . 

About nine o'clock in the evening of the 8th, as we were sitting 
where Gen. Price was standing on the morning of the third day of 



THIRTY DAYS AT ELK HORN TAVERN. 7l 

the battle of Pea Ridge, when, with his batteries, Sig-el opened on 
him so spitefully, and he thought it about time to " get out of that 
hotel," a weary and be-draggled man burst in and eagerly enquired 
for the ammunition train. 

" Dont know anything about it, sir. Ilav'nt been advised that 
one's coming." 

" But there «>," said the messenger, excitedly, " and Herron told 
me I would certainly meet it before getting to Cross Hollows. The 
army is out of ammunition^ 

This startled us into a perpendicular at once, for we had heard 
from Prairie Grove, when it was thought the battle would be re- 
newed in the morning. A detail was immediately sent galloping up 
the road to Keitsville to hurry forward the train as rapidly as mules 
could move it. Ten miles away they found it parked. With great 
haste, the teams were geared up, and the train set in motion. 
Shortly after daylight, it lumbered into Elk Horn without a guard. 

Here was carelessness that might have been terrible in its conse- 
quences, and from our stand-point there was no reason to suppose 
the contrary. The ordnance officer in charge had been told at 
Springfield that a guard would speedily overtake him. In that 
hope he had pushed on without hesitation, though he knew it to be 
perilous to do so. Arriving at Cassville he was still without a 
guard, and none was to be had there. He moved on, nevertheless, 
for he knew he should be nearer the rear of the army than he then 
was. Ingraham's marauders were still troublesome in the neigh- 
borhood of Mudtown (euphonious name ! ) and Cross Hollows, and 
on the morning of the arrival of this train, news had been received 
that the day before some convalescent soldiers on their way to Fay- 
etteville had been fired upon from the bushes, and three wounded. 
A guard was now imperative, but the difficulty lay in getting it. 



72 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

Two detachments from our feeble post were then away on unavoid- 
able duty, and we could only muster forty effective men for the 
defence of our position. We were not expected to furnish guards 
for passing trains, and of course were unprepared for this emergency. 
But the guard must be had at all hazards. Captain Galloway was 
ordered out with thirty-five men, Lieutenant Frank Strong, the 
post adjutant, accompanying, to turn the few stragglers who had 
come in to good account. On moved the train, and that night our 
defensive force was five men — the telegraphic repairer, George S. 
Albright, the operator, Lieut. C. C. Wells, the post quartermaster, 
and ourselves. 

Fortunately the battle was not renewed on the eighth. Of the 
two, the rebels were in the worse predicament as to ammunition. 
During the engagement a section of Murphy's battery, commanded 
by Lieutenant Marr, had, by exceedingly well-timed shelling, killed 
or disabled all the horses attached to two caissons observed moving 
through the woods. The caissons themselves were afterwards taken 
and found to be well filled with grape, canister and spherical case, 
of the most approved English manufacture. 'This was no trifling 
loss for Hindman, and weakened in other respects, he retreated. 

On the 10th the ammunition train reached Prairie Grove — early 
enough for a victory, altogether too late for a defeat. The circum- 
stance is unimportant now, but had our arras met with a reverse, the 
quick decision of a court-martial would have disgraced — somebody. 
On the ] 4th of December we were ordered to Prairie Grove. 

Fatetteville, Ark., 
February, 1863. 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 



There are some men to whom the busy life of a populous com- 
munity is forever irksone. Aside from the demands of increasing 
families, a restless love of adventure urges a change of habitation, 
and as society becomes stable and habits of life fixed, they turn 
towards a wilderness. Of this class was Jesse Galloway, the father 
of the subject of this sketch. Residing for a time in Knox county,- 
Tennessee, in which his son was born, October 15th, 1825, he- 
removed thence to Morgan county in the same State, where he 
resided until the year 1828, when he settled in Morgan county, 
Indiana. A farmer by occupation, he applied himself vigorously to 
the needs of a large and increasing family, still his success was not 
equal to his wishes. Like many others, he thought he could do 
better, and hearing of tlie mild climate, the richness of soil, and the 
abundant natural productions of Southwestern Missouri, he deter- 
mined to seek again a home. 

Leaving Indiana in 1834, he settled upon Flat Creek, in what was 
then Barry county. The country was wild in the extreme. Deer 
were abundant on the hills and in the valleys ; game of all kinds 
abounded; the forests were rich in the dainty sweets of bee-trees; 
grapes hung purpling in the woods ungathered and unsought ; the 
air was vocal with the melody of a thousand songsters, and the 
climate itself knew neither rigor nor disease. Here Charles Gallo- 
way received the impressions that moulded his character. The boy 
a 



Y4 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

of a frotitiersman, he soon became bold, daring, venturesome. The 
ever faithful rifle was his constant companion, and the lonely rambles 
of early manhood became a fitting pupilage for the stirring scenes of 
his latter life. 

The Mexican war breaking out, he enlisted as a private in Com- 
pany " G," Third Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers, Colonel 
Rawles comraafriding. This company, raised in the vicinity of 
Springfield, Missouri, was commanded by Samuel A. Boake, then a 
well known citizen of the Southwest. Rendezvousing for the pur- 
pose of organization at Independence, on the Missouri river, the 
regiment was ordered thence to Fort Leavenworth. There its com- 
missary stores were supplied, and other preparations made for war 
with the Indians. At this time the Apaches, Navajoes, and other 
tribes were especially troublesome, and while heavier military opera- 
tions were going on below, it was necessary that the remote frontier 
should be carefully guarded. To that end the regiment to which 
young Galloway belonged was ordered first to Santa Fe. There a 
post was established and Colonel Rawles placed in command. From 
ihis point a portion of the regiment moved northward, Captain 
3oake's company included, established a post seventy-five miles 
higher up the Rio Grande river, and from that time until the close 
of the war, was actively employed in operations against the Indians. 
Young Galloway was frequently detailed for this service, and distin- 
guished himself by his intrepidity. In an engagement with the 
Apaches he was painfully wounded in the foot, an injury from which 
he has never fully recovered. 

Alternating thus between extreme peril and the leisure that a 
soldier often enjoys, when not in action or preparing for it; at one 
time boldly following the wily sons of the forest, reckless of ambus- 
cade or assistance, and at another down at Santa Fe living in an 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 75 

Adobe house, and dancing with Mexican women ; he returned at 
length with the regiment to Independence, and was there mustered 
out. Starting immediately for Springfield, he arrived on election 
day, and voted for Cass and Butler. His democracy, sealed as it 
had been, with his blood, and thus speedily finding its true expres- 
sion in the ballot-box, became a fixed principle of conduct, and 
nerved and sustained him in the trials that twelve years later were 
forced upon him. In February, 1849, he married, bought the old 
homestead and went to farming. Until the autumn of 1860 he 
remained quietly at home, pursuing his avocation and dealing in 
stock, when the approaching cloud in the political sky admonished 
him of the necessity for action, prompt and concerted. 

The Flat Creek country, commonly so called, was then within the 
boundaries of Stone county, and had been settled by a class of men 
who mainly performed their own labor. They were hardy, indus- 
trious and honest — neither filling the community with backwoods 
gamblers nor lawless desperadoes — and in politics were almost, 
without exception, followers of Stephen A. Douglas. In the gene- 
ral election of that year, the county showed itself to be strongly 
Union — Flat Creek precinct, in which the subject of this sketch 
resided, polling a unanimous vote for Douglas and Johnson. 

Charles Bird, then living on Crane Creek, and who had held the 
position of county judge of Stone county for a number of years, was 
elected to the lower branch of the State Legislature as a Douglas 
Democrat. Arriving at Jefferson City, the taint of secession in- 
fected him, and he wrote to his constituents that " secession was the 
popular side," advising some of them, also, of a corresponding 
change in his own views of national affairs. His conduct exas- 
perated his former friends, and they manifested their disapprobation 
of it by returning to the State Convention, called for the purpose of 



^6 LOYALXr ON THE FRONTIER. 

deliberating upon the question of secession, a Union delegate, Judge 
Hendricks, of Green county. After the Convention adjourned, 
Judge Bird, up to this time remaining at Jefferson City, returned 
home a ruined poutician and a disappointed man, and undertook 
the raising of a jayhawking and marauding company, yet under the 
guise of protection against jayhawkers, bushwhackers, and other 
men of the like ilk. 

There was associated with him one Isaac Bledsoe. By choice a 
minister and a Methodist, he sustained a character prior to the 
breaking out of the " great rebellion," in harmony to some extent 
with his profession. An earnest adherent of the " Methodist Church 
South," he shared in the prejudices of his section, and when Mis- 
souri began to consider the question of secession, politics and the 
pulpit very soon became with him synonymous terms. Itinerating 
through Stone county, he "took his texts from the Bible and preached 
from the newspapers," until he exhausted his piety and his purse — 
the latter never long — and took to bushwhacking. While raising 
men, however, he would be occasionally smitien with the hortative 
fury of his earlier days, and then disseminate treason under the 
cloak of sanctity and the Sabbath. 

At such times he spurned all 'secular methods, and the rebel in him 
rising with his fervor, his defection burst every restraint, and no 
doubt his sympathizing hearers reflected the sentiment — 

" Heroes shall fall, who strode unharmed away, 
Through the red heaps of many a doubtful day — 
Hacked in his sermons, riddled in his prayers, 
The 'butternut' slashing what the 'shot-gun' spares." 

The band known at first as Bird's, was afterwards more generally 

mentioned as Bledsoe's, and during the autumn and winter of 1861, 

ceaselessly depredated upon the property of the Union men of Stone, 

Christian, Barry, and other counties in south-western Missouri. So 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 'TY 

notorious, in fact, did it become, that Bledsoe's men were regarded as 
the central light in bushwhacking ; the fruitful source of rapine and 
murder; the terror of Union men. In August, 1861, they mur- 
dered, in cold blood, Jesse Galloway, Charles' cousin, and then 
captain of a home-guard company in Christian county. Other 
citizens were also wantonly killed, and countless depredations com- 
mitted by this band. Always dressed in citizen's clothes, the char- 
acteristic "butternut" prevailing, they moved about in the true 
spirit of guerrilla warfare, meeting by agreement in some secluded 
spot when a deed of darkness was to be committed, and separating 
each to his home or hiding place when. danger appeared imminent. 
Cowardly as they were malicious, when found alone or a few toge- 
ther, they would insist on being orderly citizens, and unarmed, were 
generally " going for the doctor," or armed, were out " turkey 
shooting." During the summer of 1862 a military commission sat 
continuously at Springfield, Missouri, and no marauder's name 
appears upon its minutes so often as Isaac Bledsoe's. 

With these men to contend against mediately, and an approach-' 
ing Southern horde farther off, Charles Galloway went earnestly to 
work. Without waiting for authority, he raised a company from 
Stone county, and tendered their services to Gen. Lyon, then com- 
manding at Springfield. The company was ordered to the duty of 
home protection, and from that time until the battle of Wilson's 
Creek, remained in and near Stone county, a portion of the time 
held together, and again separating into small detachments for the 
better protection of families threatened by Bledsoe and his men. 
Captain Galloway, now bold and defiant, had become especially 
obnoxious to the rebels, and a party of sixty-three were sent by Col. 
Mackintosh, commanding a Texan regiment in the vicinity, to en- 
trap him. 



V8 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

"JoePeevie" was employed as commander and guide. For a 
number of years sheriff of Barry county, he was somewhat noted in 
his locality, and though of low instincts and a groveling disposition, 
had managed to maintain a quasi respectability. He consorted with 
horse-thieves and cut-throats, and was a rabid secessionist. Possess- 
ing some influence, his tirades against negro equality won converts, 
and he readily raised a jay-hawking company. This was in the 
summer of 1861. Ennis Dixon, another notorious character, had 
likewise organized a bushwhacking band, and the two seemed now 
striving to out-maraud Bledsoe. The parson's sanctity^ however, 
gave him the inside of the track, and he kept it. 

Captain Galloway, having been ad\-ised of the meditated attack, 
called to his aid a few home guards, and thus feebly reinforced took 
position in the vicinity of Clark's Mills, on Flat Creek. About this 
time he had been personally threatened by William McKenney, a 
notorious rebel, living on Rock House Creek, nine miles northeast 
of Cassville, and knew that a determined effort would be made to 
take him. The imminence of his danger had only permitted him 
to gather forty-five men, and with these he prepared for a fight in 
the most approved bushwhacking method. Peevie, accompanied by 
" Wild Bill Price," well known in the Southwest, was cautious, yet 
he attacked with spirit, and Captain Galloway's reinforcement fled. 
His men reduced now to thirty, but animated by their intrepid 
leader, fought bravely. For half an hour the woods resounded with 
musketry, Galloway's men taking every advantage of trees, logs and 
thickets, and only firing when they could " draw a bead." The 
deadliness of their aim soon had its effect; "Wild Bill Price" vindi- 
•cated his soubriquet, and the redoubtable Peevie turned his back on 
Clark's Mills, reflecting possibly upon the vanity of human hope. A 
horse had been shot under him, fifteen of his men killed, and a 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. Id 

number wounded. Captain Galloway's loss was but one killed and 
three slightly wounded. Not knowing but that this attack came 
from the advance of the rebel army, ascertained to be near by, he 
fell back and moved hastily to Springfield. 

Reporting in person to General Lyon, he was at once employed 
as a scout, and directed to find out accurately the position of General 
Price and his forces, then supposed to be marching towards Wilson's 
Creek. Starting southward, in company with Dr. Philip M. Slaugh- 
ter, of Stone county, and avoiding the highway, they discovered 
near the house of John I. Smith, on the Cassville road, thirty-five 
miles below Springfield, the rebel advance under General Rains. 
Hastily dispatching Dr. Slaughter to General Lyon, Galloway struck 
again into the woods in the direction of Flat Creek. Stealthily- 
moving about here and there, now on the flank of the enemy, and 
now in their rear, he soon acquired very valuable information as to 
their disposition and numbers, and made all haste to General Lyon. 
He met him two miles west of Springfield advancing upon the 
enemy. During the eventful 10th of August he was eight miles 
south of Wilson's Creek, having been sent in that direction after the 
Dug Spring skirmish, and was making his way back to General 
Lyon when the battle began. As soon as he learned the day was 
irretrievably lost, and the death of General Lyon, from whom the 
Southwest expected so much, certain, he sorrowfully turned his steps 
towards Stone county. There again he gathered a company, and 
when Fremont came to Springfield, tendered its services to him, and 
was frequently employed on scouting expeditions under the super- 
intendence of Colonel John M. Richardson, now of the Fourteenth 
Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, then chief of scouts. 

As we have elsewhere had occasion to state, the removal of 
Fremont, and the retirement of the grand array first assembled under 



80 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

him, left Southwestern Missouri in a most pitiable condition. The 
policy of the government was only manifest in the failing fortune of 
it? cause, and the numerous arrests of loyal citizens, or their hurried 
departure from home. The men who had repeatedly rallied under 
Galloway became disheartened, and some of them, no doubt, com- 
promised their patriotism for the sake of domestic security. The 
company disbanded, and Captain Galloway was shortly afterwards 
arrested by a party of one hundred and fifty men, sent into Stone 
county to " break him up." With twenty others he was taken to 
Keitsville, placed in a corn-crib, held there two days and a night, 
allowed one meal for every twenty-four hours, and was then taken 
before Judge Bird, heretofore mentioned, for examination. When 
asked if he was willing to join the Southern army, and replying that 
he was not, he was rudely told to stand aside — a direction which he 
construed to mean hanging. Some of his old friends, however, men 
who were under obligations to him for favors shown before the war, 
interceded in his behalf, and he was permitted to go home. 

He remained there until fourteen days before the battle of Pea 
Ridge, when he was again employed as a scout, and a few days later 
was mainly instrumental in saving a large train, then in great danger 
of being cut off before it could reach the army. After the battle of 
Pea Kidge, he returned home, and there remained, endeavoring to 
restore his shattered possessions, until the summer of 1862, when 
he was tendered a captaincy in the First Arkansas Cavalry. Accept- 
ing the proffered appointment, he speedily raised a full company, 
and on the Yth of August was mustered into service. In the latter 
part of the month he signalized himself by a daring foray, with one 
hundred men, into Carroll county, Arkansas, dealing a severe blow 
to rebel influence in that section, and relieving many Union families. 

Not long afterwards the notorious Cofl'ee appeared near the 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 81 

Arkansas line, moving northward. His destination, or the number 
of his men, no one seemed to know. Strange stories were told of 
his movements, and wild conjectures indulged in. At Springfield 
even, we were directed to be in readiness for an attack at a 
ipoment's warning, and shortly came the news that Cassvdlle had 
been evacuated by order of the General commanding the district. 
Coffee, however, kept on until his discomfiture at Lone Jack com- 
pelled a precipitate retreat. 

The abandonment of Cassville was a serious blow to the buoyancy 
of Arkansas men, nearly a thousand of whom were now at Spring- 
field. Cassville was fifty miles nearer their homes, and they 
regarded that post as an indispensable link in the chain of com- 
munication that would ultimately re-unite their native hills and 
valleys to fatherland. A mad Convention had usurped the preroga- 
tive of the people, and the bitter fruit of secession was being tasted 
by the innocent and the unoffending. Making no concealment of 
their loyalty, they had been compelled to flee from their homes, and 
burning" for the hour of return, the retreat from Cassville struck them 
like a cold chill. Whether politic or not, we do not assume to say. 
Generally speaking the abandonment of an outpost is an unwise 
measure. The motive will always be misunderstood. Speculation 
will draw the most extravagant conclusions, and rumor begotten of 
fear will circulate a thousand falsehoods, yet you cannot forget them. 

The occupation then of Cassville by the rebel forces, shortly after 
the Federal troops retired, was to Arkansians and the loyal Mis- 
sourians of the Southwest an eye-sore of the worst description. On 
the other hand military circles were not long disturbed, and a force 
was sent to Crane Creek with directions to keep out scouts below. 
Their intelligence was reliable that Cassville was held by a small 
detachment only, and it was, therefore, determined to make a 



82 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

descent upon the town. Leaving Springfield on the 19th of Septem- 
ber with one hundred men, of the First Arkansas Cavalry, and 
obtaining at Crane Creek a reinforcement ot seventy-five, under Cap- 
tain Jesse M. Gilstrap, of the same regiment, Captain Galloway passed 
the Federal pickets and struck over the hills for Cassville. All 
regularity of movement was now disregarded, and dividing his men 
into two parties he approached the town from opposite directions. 
Lying in the adjacent woods during the latter part of the night of 
the 20th, early on the morning of the 21st he dashed into town from 
a southerly direction. Captain Worthington accompanying him, and 
leading a portion of the men, while Captain Gilstrap simultaneously 
hurried forward from the North. Between one hundred and fifty 
and two hundred rebels, reposing in confident security, were hold- 
ing the town. They were the advance of a much larger force a few 
miles away to the South- West, and having their pickets out on the 
usual approaches, were unprepared for a sudden attack. Had a 
meteor fallen in their midst, it could not more thoroughly have 
startled them. Some, hastily mounting their horses, made all speed 
for a safer portion of " Dixie ;" others trusting to the agility of the 
natural man, clambered up a convenient hill-side, while still others 
commenced an annoying fire from houses, the only display made of 
even the lowest type of courage. 

Meanwhile Captain Galloway was hurrying his men into town. 
Tactics were " thrown to the winds," and above all the noise and 
confusion rose his shrill and peculiar voice — 

" Charge 'em, boys, G — d d n 'em, charge 'em !" 

Language, we admit, more forcible than moral ; but the boys 
"charged," gathering some of the escaping, hurrying others up the 
hill-side with accelerated speed, and driving the remainder from 
their shelter, killing fifteen and capturing twenty. Captain Gilstrap 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 83 

co-operated well, and the victory was complete. Fugitives had now 
carried the news below, and an immediate retreat was necessary. 
Retiring over the hills, the next day Captain Galloway arrived at^ 
Springfield. Cassville was speedily filled with rebels, but they 
found nothing to fight. 

On the 18th of October, Captain Galloway was ordered to Elk 
Horn Tavern. While the battalion to which he was attached re 
mained there, he was almost constantly engaged in the perilous 
duty of scouting. About the 1st of December he was sent out with 
about one hundred men, with Lieutenant Thomas Wilhite as second 
in command, and who was thoroughly acquainted with the country, 
to endeavor to break up a notorious company of marauders, known 
as Enyart's band. Falling in with them on the main fork of White 
river, fifteen miles south-east of Fayetteville, a spirited skirmish 
ensued, in which Stephen Enyart, the Captain of the band, and one 
others were killed, and a few wounded. The rest precipitately fled 
towards the Boston Mountains. 

To repulse the marauders of the South-west they must be met in 
their own way, and no men were better qualified for these hazard- 
ous operations than Galloway and Wilhite. The former now 
remained at Elk Horn until the 14th of December, when he was 
ordered temporarily to Cassville. Remaining there but a few days, he 
moved with his company to Fayetteville. Arriving again in Arkan- 
sas, he was put at once upon active duty, and took a prominent part 
in the forays made during the winter to the Arkansas river. He dash- 
ed into Ozark on the morning of the 4th of January, 1863, was halted 
by the pickets, but gave his characteristic order to charge, and drove 
a detachment of rebels out of the town ; captured several prisoners 
and horses, broke up a score of shot guns, and destroyed a quantity 
of commissary stores. His own force was twenty-two men. 



84 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

The latent loyalty of north-western Arkansas breaking ont in 
the most cheering manner in the latter part of January, but still 
requiring the support of the military arm, Captain Galloway, with a 
sufficient force, was present at Huntsville on the 31st, for which day 
a public meeting had been called. He left Fayetteville also for 
another purpose. It had been ascertained where the notorious 
Peter Mankins, with a band of desperadoes, were secreting them- 
selves in the South-eastern corner of Crawford county, and it was 
determined upon, "to break up the nest." This was a part ot 
Captain Galloway's duty, in the discharge of which he was to re- 
ceive CO operation from Captain Robert E. Travis, of the same regi- 
ment, who had magnanimously offered to go as a spy into the 
dangerous cane. 

Born, we believe, in or near Indianapolis, and passing his entire 
life in the AVest, Captain Travis at the breaking out of the rebellion 
was a dealer in stock in Northern Missouri. For a time employed 
as a spy for the original army of the Southwest, he afterwards 
enlisted as a private in company " A," of the First Arkansas Cavalry. 
Subsequently receiving authority to raise a company, he did so, and 
at the time of which we speak was commanding squadron " M." 
We were then on detached service at Fayetteville, and well remem- 
ber the appearance of the captain in our office the afternoon of his 
departure. Dropping in but for a moment, he pleasantly drew our 
attention to his habit, now completely that of a backwoodsman. 
Every garment of the army blue had disappeared, and we could not 
help thinking of Joseph's coat of many colors. No spy was ever 
more appropriately clothed. Suggesting that he be very cautious, 
for he was about to deal with the most desperate men on the bor- 
der, and wishing him a successful enterprise and a safe return, he 
left the room. 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 85 

We now quote from the report of Captain Galloway to Colonel 
Harrison, commanding the post at Fayetteville. 

" The first night after leaving I encamped on the Huntsville road, 
about two miles from that place. The next day I reached Hunts- 
ville at 1 1 o'clock, A. M. There being no rebels in force in the 
vicinity of the town, I remained there until the morning of the 1st 
inst., at which time, in obedience to your order, received at Hunts- 
ville, I started for Williams' farm. A little while after dark, of the 
same day, I reached Allison Hill's farm, about eighteen miles distant 
from Ozark, and twenty-five miles from Williams' farm, to which I 
intended to go. There it was rumored that there were one hundred 
rebels in Ozark, and three steamers above the place. I proceeded 
at once to Ozark, arriving just at break of day. I there found a 
rebel captain, whom, with a lieutenant I had captured the day before, 
I paroled. I also paroled four rebel privates. I remained at Ozark 
until 1 o'clock, p. m., waiting for the steamers, but they did not 
come down, and I started for Williams' farm. When I had pro- 

» ceeded seven miles, my advance drove three rebel pickets, whom I 
supposed to be patrols. The advance soon came in contact with the 
main force of the enemy, who charged, and it fell back to the main 
column of my forces, now forming in an advantageous position. 
The enemy came up to within one hundred and fifty yards of my line 
and opened, when the contest fairly commenced. After thirty min- 
utes' severe fighting I repulsed him with loss. At this time I would 
have charged had I not feared an ambuscade. The enemy retreated 

' with great precipitancy, breaking into small squads as they retreated, 
which scattered to the right and left of the road. From the most 
reliable information, I found that the rebels numbered one hundred 
and eighty men, and were commanded by Colonel Dorsey. I could 
not accurately ascertain their losses, as they carried ofi" their dead 
and wounded. Ours was one slightly wounded. 

H 



86 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

" The rebels were informed of our presence in the vicinity, and of 
our advance, and had been waiting for us one or two hours. From 
here I started to Williams' farm, reaching it about dusk. At eight 
'o'clock a spy, who had been co-operating with Captain Travis, came 
into camp, and at nine the captain himself arrived. They had 
learned that Mankins' band, numbering thirty men, was immediately 
beyond the Arkansas river, and his (Captain Travis's) plan was to 
proceed at once to the river with his whole force, leaving one-half 
on this side to guard the horses, and sending the other half over 
the river to capture the guerrillas. Thisplan I considered defective, 
since I supposed that the rebels with, whom we had the fight would 
probably return reinforced to their encampment, two miles from us, 
and not more than two from the ferry where we would have to 
cross the river. Moreover, my men were very tired, as also the 
horses, having had no rest since we had left Huntsville. My design 
was to attack the rebel camp in the morning, if they were not too 
strongly posted, but finding by one o'clock at night that the rebels 
had not returned to their encampment, and still considering it im- 
prudent to move part of my forces across the river, I determined to 
start for Fayetteville in the morning. 

" Captain Travis insisted on taking the men into the cane-brake 
for the purpose of capturing five or six of the enemy, who, he said, 
were to meet there to organize a band. He wanted no more than " 
ten. I considered his proposed expedition nothing more than a 
small scout, and believing that there was no rebel force in the 
vicinity, granted his request. He was to rejoin me five or six miles 
from Williams' farm, and about the same distance from where he 
was going. He insisted, on starting out, that if he did not meet 
me there, I should go on, and he would overtake me. A little 
before daybreak I started for Fayetteville, and having marched 
about twenty miles, halted and fed. Some of the party now came 



I 



CHARLES GALLOWAY. 87 

up and gave information that Captain Travis and four of liis men 
were killed or mortally wounded. 

" The facts, as I gathered them from the men who escaped, were 
these : Captain Travis, leaving us in camp, proceeded at once to the 
cane-brake, two and a half miles distant. Finding some indications 
of an enemy in the vicinity, he marched until break of day, when he 
dismounted his men, hitched his horses, and began to search for 
them. He came to their camp, which was about one hundred 
rods from where he alighted, and found thirty horses tied to the 
bushes. Leaving one man to guard them, he proceeded with seven 
others to attack the rebels in their fortifications, whom he knew 
from their horses to number about thirty. When a hundred yards 
from the fort, a sentinel descried them and gave the alarm. The 
rebels sprang to their rifles and commenced firing on our men, who, 
opening fire in return, continued to advance until within thirty 
yards of the fort. At this time, when three or four of our men had 
fallen, the captain ordered a retreat, and while himself in the act of 
turning, received a mortal wound. His remaining men moved him 
about one hundred rods distant, where, after staying with him ten 
or fifteen minutes, they left him apparently dying. They overtook 
me at noon the next day. When informed of this disaster, I would 
have returned at once and recovered the wounded, if still living, and 
interred the dead, but owing to the fatigued state of ray men and 
horses, I deemed it best to move on to Fayetteville. Entrusting 
the disposal of the dead and wounded to a citizen, and pledging him 
to attend to them, I moved on." 

Poor Travis ! he fell a victim to his own rash bravery, yet all 
honor to the man who could divest himself of his command, and 
so cheerfully volunteer to ferret out and rid that section of country 
of its most dangerous enemies. If he could not succeed, he could 



88 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

fight, and he paid the penalty of his daring with his life. A few 
days later an avenging expedition softened the remembrance of this 
disaster, by converting the block house in the canebrake into a mass 
of ruins, and driving its hated defenders ignominiously across the 
Arkansas river. 

We now leave Captain Galloway at Fayetteville, ready to render 
any service that may be required of him. We do not claim in his 
behalf the precision or the punctilio of the martinet, which very 
often, to secure the shadow, sacrifices the substance, but in those 
sterling qualities that adapt a man to the irregular warfare of the 
Border, enabling him to snatch victory, when the mere disciplina- 
rian would suff"er defeat, he has few equals and no superiors. 

• Fayetteville, Ark., 
February, 1863. 



THOMAS WILHITE. 



The South west has given bi>rth to no more daring spirit than the 
subject of this sketch. Born in Washington count}^, Arkansas, on 
the 23d of September, 1836, and reared upon the Border, early- 
manhood found him a true representative of frontier life. Hiram 
Wilhite, his father, was one of «the earliest settlers in Washington 
county, emigrating from Tennessee first to Frog Bayou, in its south- 
eastern corner, and thence, eighteen . years since, to Fall Creek, 
twenty-one miles south of Fayetteville. There the impressions that 
make the "child the father of the man" were imprinted on the 
character of young Wilhite, and he grew up as robust and vigor- 
ous as the forest trees that surrounded the paternal dweJling. A 
farmer's child, his boyhood was quite like that of most other boys, 
and had not the dogs of war been let loose some years later, at his 
own door, he might still be following the plough, or roaming over 
the Boston Mountains, a keen huntsman and a dead shot. 

In politics, his father was a democrat of the JefFersonian school, 
and young Wilhite early imbibed kindred views of public affairs. 
In the campaign of 1860, both father and son were warmly inter- 
ested as Union men, nor were they at all timorous in the avowal of 
their sentiments. The all-absorbing topic of the time was the ques- 
tion of negro slavery in some form or other, and the utterance of 
views antagonistic to its extension, or even in opposition to the 
secession of the slaveholding States, was met first by contumely, 



90 LOYALTi' ON THE FRONTIER. 

then with hate and persecution. As between immediate and un- 
conditional secession, and co-operation with the other Border States, 
a phase which the troubles of the time assumed, the Wilhites favored 
the latter. They were, notwithstanding, unconditional Union men, 
and when in February, 1861, the people were called upon to send 
delegates to a State Convention to consider the grave question of 
separation, they worked zealously for Union nominees. 

One of the candidates was Thomas M. Gunter, a lawyer of posi- 
tion, residing in Fayetteville. Opposed to him was Wilburn D. 
Reagan, another Fayetteville attorney, and a bitter, uncompromising 
secessionist. At a public meeting held at the place just mentioned, 
during the canvass, and conducted oil the Southern plan, Gunter was 
called out, after a rabid speech by Reagan, made beneath a secession 
banner. He responded to the call, but declined speaking under the 
" damnable rag," pointing to it, and an adjournment took place to 
the Court House. In the crowd that followed him were Wilhite and 
a score of well-armed men, who were determined that he should 
speak without molestation, as now some symptoms of trouble were 
breaking out. Gunter began. To repeat the humble saying of the 
time, he told the boys to " stick up " for him and he would for the 
Union, and that he would suffer his right arm to be taken from his 
body sooner than cast a secession vote. This " Gunter's scale," how- 
ever, proved to be of the sliding order. He sat in the Convention, 
cast his vote for the fatal measure that went like a knell to the pros- 
perity of the State, and returning home, had the ignoble privilege of 
meeting those whom he had betrayed. The delegates from Wash- 
ington county to this Convention seemed, before their election, hap- 
pily to unite in denunciation of the suicidal doctrine of secession. 
The pure air of the White river hills apparently stimulated the noble 
spirit of self-sacrifice, and the determination to suffer their bodies to 



THOMAS WILHITE. 91 

be maimed, at least on the part of David Walker and Thos. M. Gim- 
ter, ratlier than aid in taking the State out of the Union, was espe- 
cially commendable. But the cotton lands of the valley of the 
Arkansas neutralized White river ; Little Rock overawed Fayette- 
ville, and the outstretched arms that had so patriotically been offered 
as a holocaust upon the altar of the Union, still obey original will, 
bodies and members committing treason together. After the seces- 
sion of the State, Gunter returned to Fayetteville and accepted a 
captaincy in the Third Regiment of Arkansas State Troops. His 
defection was now complete, and whatever claims he may once have 
had to the suffrages of Washington county, his treason had obliter- 
ated every sense of obligation, and he stood condemned by his 
friends of a lifetime. 

Whether on duty or otherwise, it so happened that he was in 
Fayetteville, when in July, 1862, Major Hubbard, of the First Mis- 
souri Cavalry, and Major Miller, of the Second Wisconsin, dashed 
into the town, with a very considerable scouting party, creating some 
consternation and more "skedaddling." Though the occurrence 
took place early in the morning, Gunter was on the street, and dis- 
covering the approaching cavalry, hastily made a dissolving view of 
himself. When danger is imminent and one is flying from it, speed 
is everything, and the ex-delegate was very soon snugly stowed away 
in the attic of the house of a rebel friend, one Isaac Taylor. Why 
he did not seek his own home history does not inform us ; quite 
possibly it was inconvenient for him to do so. Then again he 
might be caught in transitu, and hurried off to Springfield under 
circumstances that would compel him to leave his command behind, 
a conjectural condition of things more probable than pleasant. All 
day long the obscure but friendly attic concealed its strange inhabitant. 
The lower story was frequently searched for the occupant of the 



93 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

house, but the persistent Federals at length became satisfied that he 
was not at home. They little thought of the specimen of half sus- 
pended animation so short a distance above them, and for whom 
they had elsewhere looked in vain. Towards night " an intelligent 
contraband " disclosed his whereabouts, and he was dragged to the 
light, though he " loved darkness rather." Taken to Springfield he 
was there exchanged, and is now a colonel in the rebel army. 

Such was one of the prominent leaders of the Union party n 
Northwestern Arkansas, but thanks to tlie sturdy common sense of 
the masses, his defection did not carry with it the majority of 
those who had determined, through weal or wo to stand by the old 
flag. They have, however, cause enough to curse the day they voted 
for Thomas M. Gunter. The rained farms and the desolate house- 
holds of a once prosperous and happy community, will, for long 
years, couple his name with those of David Walker and John 
Parks, a triumvirate of treachery. But we are digressing. Gunter 
was permitted to continue his speech, and the meeting adjourn- 
ing, the people separated to their homes congratulating them- 
selves upon the Jivmness and devotion of one of their principal 
leaders. 

Shortly after this occurrence and before the secession of the State, 
Wilhite attached himself to a company of minute men, who were to 
be ready at a moment's warning to respond to the call of public 
danger. The most of the company were at heart Union men, and 
they secretly resolved to make their organization subservient to their 
own wishes. While matters were in this situation, one James M. 
Scott raised a secession flag in Cove Creek Township, and called on 
the minute men to rally beneath it. The minutes just then became 
hours, and Wilhite and his companions made haste to rally very 
slowly. In fact they flatly refused to do so, and Mr. Scott's bannej 



THOMAS WILHITE. 93 

hung lazily from the staff, looking for all the world as though it had 
been brought out to droop and die. Wilhite had now thoroughly 
committed himself to the Union cause, and it behooved him to look 
well to his personal safety. The rebel element predominated in his 
neighborhood, and the " strikers " and " tools " of the secession 
leaders, were implacable in their resentments. Not considering, 
however, that his immediate personal peril was so great as to war- 
rant an abrupt departure from the State, and yet feeling that he 
must never go about unarmed, Wilhite remained at home and pre- 
pared to " make a crop." When following the plow a trusty rifle 
was invariably slung from his back, and a brace of revolvers were 
belted about him. At night the rifle stood at the head of the bed, 
and he often slept with his revolvers on. Several times when in the 
field he descried men coming to take him prisoner. He would then 
leave the plow in the furrow, slip into the woods and remain there 
until his enemies went away. There was no danger of their inter- 
fering with the horses or the plow. They knew too well the dead- 
liness of his aim, and the disagreeable doubt as to who would be his 
victim, kept them all away from the peril. 

One day in June six rebels, whom for the satisfaction of their 
friends, we will name, Gilhamton Walker, Calvin Walker, George 
Bell, Alfred Strickler, John King and William Sharp, knowing that 
he was at home rode hastily up to take him, but he was too quick 
for them, and dodging around a corner of the house, with his rifle 
and revolvers, held his advantage while a parley took place. They 
informed him that they had come to arrest him becauae he was a 
Union man. He informed them that they would have to reinforce 
and come again, that six men were not enough for the business, and 
that if any of them "dropped a gun," one man would fall sure, and 
they would not know beforehand who it was to be. Like their 



94 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

predecessors who scouted the corn-field, they returned as wise as 
they came, even requesting that they might ride away unharmed. 

Not long afterwards another squad rode up to the house for a 
similar purpose. Fortunately Wilhite was absent, but to his mother 
was considerately shown the rope with which they intended to hang 
him. Going during the same summer to Kidd's mill, near Cane 
Hill, for flour for the family, a knot of men gathered around and 
" allowed" to take him prisoner. On the other hand, he " allowed" 
that if they made any such attempt, he should defend himself to 
the last ; that he had thirteen shots, and should try his best to make 
some of them " tell," and that they could not take him alive. His 
determination subdued the crowd somewhat, and T. K. Kidd, a 
merchant of the place, interceding in his behalf, on the ground that 
he might yet make a good southern soldier^ he was permitted to 
transact his business at the mill and return home. 

There was living at this time not far away from Wilhite, a Baptist 
minister, known by many as " Old Tommy Dodson, the preacher," 
otherwise rejoicing in the christened name of Thomas. He was a 
violent secessionist, and preached whenever audiences could be 
assembled, whether on the Sabbath or during the week ; nor did 
he confine himself to Biblical teaching. The sword of the spirit 
was not, in his judgment, the only weapon to be wielded for the 
Confederacy. His tirades were frequent and unsparing against 
Union men and Black Republicans, who, if they did not recant, were 
to be driven off" or shot. On one occasion Wilhite attended his 
services, held at the house of Benjamin Strickler, on Fall Creek. 
The congregation was quite large for the locality, and in it were sev- 
eral soldiers belonging to the regular rebel army. The preacher's 
harangue savored, as usual, of public affairs. The secession of the 
State was justified; the public functionaries at Richmond lauded; 



THOMAS WILHITE. 95 

a highly wrought prophecy of the grandeur of the New Republic 
was pronounced, and then fell the ministerial denunciation on all 
those who still clung to the old government. Warming with his 
subject, and evidently growing indignant, he exclaimed — 

" If there is a Union man within the sound of my voice, I want 
him to leave the house, and leave it now — a." 

Thinking it about time to depart, and having no reluctance to 
define his position, Wilhite started for the door. 

"Then, go — a," resumed the excited and now somewhat ex- 
hausted preacher, moving towards the retreating Federal, *' and 
darken not again the house of God. And do you, my brave boys," 
pointing to the rebel soldiers, " fight on for the glo-o-o-rious South- 
ern Confederacy. The Lord is on our side. The Lord will help 
US to gain the independence of the South." By this time Wilhite 
was in the yard, and the Rev. Thomas Dodson began slowly to 
return to his normal condition. Eighteen months later, the same 
clerical gentleman was an inmate of the guard-house at Fayette- 
ville, under charges for trial before a military commission, to sit at 
Springfield, and Wilhite was officer of the guard. 

Alas ! the mutations of sublunary aftairs. 

The summer and autumn passed without any special peril to 
Wilhite, other than what we have referred to, except that the neces- 
sity for vigilance was greater, so much, in fact, that in November he 
was compelled to "lay out." Anticipating a winter of trouble, 
unless he were to take unusual precautions against it, he had, by 
night, hauled|one hundred bushels of corn and some other forage to 
a secluded spot on the Boston Mountains, intending to pass the 
winter in a cave and subsist a few horses. In this manner he lived, 
occasionally going home clandestinely, until the month of May, 
1862, when he secretly made his way to Springfield, Missouri, with 



96 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

William Zinnamon, who, for a time, had been his companion in 
the cave. 

Colonel M. La Rue Harrison was then organizing the Arkansian 
refugees into what subsequently became the First Regiment of Ark- 
ansas Cavalry Volunteers, and Wilhite at once identified himself 
with the project. Being empowered not long afterwards as a re- 
cruiting oflficer for the regiment, he left Springfield on the 5th of 
July, with Dr. Wm. Hunter, of Washington county, and Thomas 
J. Gilstrap, of Crawford county, afterwards respectively assistant 
surgeon and a lieutenant in. the same regiment. Falling in with 
the expedition commanded by Major Miller, they proceeded with 
it to Fayetteville, whence they moved on to the head of White 
river. 

Recruiting in Arkansas for the Union Army was at that time a 
perilous undertaking. Loyal men avowed their principles at the 
hazard of life, and the greatest difficulty to be overcome was in 
getting recruits to the rendezvous of the regiment for which enlist- 
ments were being made. The Provost Marshal's department of 
Arkansas, as organized by Major General Hindman, then command- 
ing the trans-Mississippi district, was in active operation. Nume- 
rous companies of provost guards had been formed, and, under color 
of orders, were robbing Union men and committing all manner of 
outrages. They were especially zealous in their efl:brts to check the 
growing tendency to enlist in the "Abolition Army," as they 
termed it, and hunted with the eagerness of a bloodhound those 
Union men who, first cautious, and then expeditious, abandoned 
their homes for the woods, and the woods for the Federal pickets. 
The general order that thus gave license, to rapine, and stimulated 
the blind zeal of a prejudiced people, ran as follows, not omitting 
the italicized phrases as they appeared in the original publication : 



THOMAS WILHITE. 



97 



"General Orders No. 17. 

"Head Quarters, Trans-Mississippi District, 
"Little Rock, Ark., June 17, 1862. 

" I. For the more effectual annoyance of the enemy upon our 
rivers and in our mountains and woods, all citizens of this district^ 
who are not subject to conscription^ are called upon to organize them-^ 
selves into independent companies of mounted men or infantry, as 
they prefer, arming and equipping themselves, and to serve in that 
part of the district to which they belong. 

" II. When as many as ten men come together for this purpose,, 
they may organize by electing a captain, one sergeant and one- 
corporal, and will at once commence operations against the enemi/j 
without waiting for special instructions. Their duty will be to cut 
off Federal pickets, scouts, foraging parties, and trains, and to kill 
pilots and others on gun-boats and transports, attacking them day 
and night, and using the greatest vigor in their movements. As 
soon as the company attains the strength required by law, it will 
proceed to elect the other officers to which it is entitled. All such 
organizations will be reported to these head-quarters as soon as 
practicable. They will receive pay and allowances for subsistence 
and forage, for the time actually in the field, as established by the 
affidavits of their captains. 

" III. These companies will be governed in all respects by the 
same regulations as other troops. 

" Captains will be held responsible for the good conduct and 
efficiency of their men, and will report to these head-quarters from 
time to time. 

" By command of Major-Gbneral Hindman : 

"K. C. NEWTON, A. A. GenH:' 
I 



98 LOYALTY ON" THE FRONTIER. 

By arrangement, Wilhite and Gilstrap, having for recruiting pur- 
poses gone into different neighborhoods, were to meet at the house 
of one Spencer Bullard, on Fall Creek, in Washington county, and 
there concert measures for the removal, or getting northward rather, 
of their recruits. For some reason or other, Gilstrap had departed 
on Wilhite's arrival, and the latter having with him twenty-ei2:ht 
men, determined to retire into the White Kiver Hills and the 
Boston Mountains, and collecting from the adjoining settlements 
still other men who were anxious to get away, bide his time for 
departure. At first he went to Winn's Creek, at the head of the 
west fork of White river. His re-appearance in a country where he 
was so well known, and his object thoroughly understood, caused 
great watchfulness on the part of the secession element. One Doctor 
H. Spencer in particular, now a citizen prisoner, at Springfield, 
Missouri, under the general charge of robbing Union men, was very 
active in his endeavors to find out how many recruits Wilhitc had. 
An old, vindictive man, with a countenance that would have betrayed 
him in a church, we well remember his appearance when brought 
before us for examination. He had hunted Wilhite and others as the 
lYoodman seeks his game, and we made short work of preliminaries, 
Spencer, a home guard himself, and co-operating with the bands 
now organized and organizing under the general order that we have 
inserted, placed every impediment possible in the way of the daring 
recruiting oflScer. 

There were now in Crawford and Washington counties, carrying 
out the spirit, if not the letter, of the order, no less than six com- 
panies led by Frank Oliver, Peter Mankins, and four other notorious 
marauders, all of whom were on the track of Wilhite. He still, 
however, succeeded in avoiding capture. His rendezvous was the 
wilds of the Boston Mountains ; his subsistence the irregular hospi- 



THOMAS WILHITE. 99 

tality of secretly Union men, and his comrades now together and 
now apart, increased their numbers and their resokition alike by 
daring and danger. His camp of instruction was a thicket or a 
hill, and his times for drill the opportune moments when provost 
guards came within range, and his trusty weapons made targets of 
traitors. 

Lying in the woods one day in August, near the house of Wil- 
liam Strickler, in Mountain Township, Washington county, with six 
men, a blood hound was heard baying in the distance, and appar- 
ently on his track. Like a general in the field, Wilhite immediately 
made his " dispositions," each man taking a tree and re-examining 
his weapons. Their horses were tied in a thicket a short distance 
off, and they now awaited the approach. Presently a number of men 
were observed advancing ; the hound had been called in and they 
moved very cautiously, dismounting when they observed Wilhite, 
and creeping warily towards him. Discovering three men evidently 
endeavoring to get a safe shot at him, he anticipated their design by 
commencing hostilities with both barrels of his shot gun. Wound- 
ing two, the third placed a tree between himself and danger, and 
afterwards still further increased his chances for life by slipping 
away entirely. 

This attack, more sudden and effective than they had anticipated, 
cooled the ardor of the home guards, and though a number of guns 
were fired, which but for the friendly protection of the forest would 
have been deadly in their effect, they fell back, remounted their 
horses and rode off. Wilhite now assumed the offensive, and ap- 
proaching the highway by a devious but rapid and effective move- 
ment, came suddenly upon his foes of the hour before. Singling 
out Woodruff himself, (the leader of the party,) as the object of his 
personal aim, he missed the man, but killed his horse. Several 



100 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

others, however, were womided, but succeeded in escaping. This 
little affair roused the leaders again, and vigilance was redoubled. 
Rallying under Sutton F. Cotterill, of Van Buren, the provost mar- 
shal of Crawford county, two hundred camped one evening at the 
three forks of Lee's Creek, in the county last mentioned. From a 
high bluff adjacent to, and overlooking their camp, Wilhite had 
watched them for several hours, and when night set in, knowing 
that he could not attack, for he had but two men, he nevertheless 
determined to acquaint them with his proximity. Hallooing with 
all his might, he informed whom it might concern, that if they 
wanted him they must catch him, as it would be unpleasant just 
then to surrender. 

How or why we are unable to say, but early on the following 
morning the guards decamped. Possibly they feared an attack ; 
and then again, should they assume the offensive, the disagreeable 
uncertainty of the bushes was too fresh in memory to be rashly 
courted. Wilhite lingered long enough to see his enemies disap- 
pear, when he dashed again into the woods. A short time after 
this occurrence his father was arrested while moving along the 
highway near the west fork of White river. There w^as with him a 
small boy, who, not being interfered with, hastened as expeditiously 
as he dared to the hiding place, not far away, of two of Wilhite's 
men. They were there, fortunately, and knowing where Wilhite 
then was, lost no time in acquainting him with his father's arrest. 
Hurriedly collecting four of his men, he started down the Van 
Buren road, and after a sharp run of nine miles, overtook his father, 
then guarded by seven men. Four of the guards " broke " for the 
■woods, and the remaining three were taken, dismounted, relieved of 
their arms and then set at liberty. 

About this time a warrant for the arrest and execution of Wilhite 



THOMAS WILHITE. 101 

was procured from the rebel military authorities by Frank Oliver, a 
heretofore mentioned leader of home guards. It proving somewhat 
difficult to proceed under this warrant, according to its exigency, 
General Hindman oifered a reward of seven thousand dollars and 
three honorable discharges from the Confederate service to any man 
who would bring in Wilhite, living or dead. Notices to this effect 
were numerously posted along Cove, Fall, and Lee's Creeks, and tlie 
west fork of White river. Scouting about one day in September, 
with a number of his men, and having occasion to cross Lee's Creek, 
near the base of the southern slope of the Boston Mountains, Wilhite 
discovered one of these notices tacked to a tree. Claiming the 
right to " cross-notice," he appropriated the margin to his own use, 
by inscribing thereon a notification to this eftect : that his men and 
himself claimed forty square miles of the Boston mountains, and 
that if Hindman and his provost guards trespassed upon their domin- 
ions, they would seek to drive them into the valley below, and 
there assume the offensive. He now takes from his pocket tbe 
Jack of diamonds, nails it to the tree, and writing above the head of 
this well-known gentleman the significant word " Union," informed 
" Squire " Hindman that if he wants him he must first catch him, 
and to be careful at the same time that he does not " catch a Tartar," 
The party now rode off". 

A few days later, when Wilhite was lying in the woods near the 
summit of the Boston Mountains, word came to him that General 
Hindman himself had just eaten dinner at a house not far distant, 
and that he was then on the road to Fayetteville, movinsr in a car- 
riage with a body guard of but six men. Hastily gathering a few 
of his companions Wilhite took up the pursuit. Bearing still further 
from the highway than he then was, he thought to strike it again in 
advance of the general, but in this he failed. In the distance, how- 



102 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

ever, he descried the coveted carriage, and hastened forward with all 
speed. The pursued now took alarm and hurried away northward. 
The chase was becoming exciting, but unfortunately for the pursuers 
they were nearing the rebel pickets at Hog Eye, twelve miles south 
of Fayetteville. Conscious that they had no time to lose, Wilhite 
and two of his men took as steady aim as circumstances would 
admit, and away whizzed a ball after the carriage, a second and 
then a third. But General Hindman was still safe, though the pur- 
suit did not cease until the pickets, his body guard and the carriage 
went pell-mell into the poetically named village so conveniently at 
hand. The pursuers now wheeled about and hied away to their 
fastnesses. 

Leading thus a life of wild adventure, Wilhite passed his time on, 
and in the vicinity of the Boston Mountains, until the advance into 
Arkansas of the Army of the Frontier in October, 1862. His 
escapes from peril were manifold. His superior knowledge, how- 
ever, of the woods, and his consciousness of the fact that nature 
would permit only a few men to operate against him at a time, gave 
him confidence and strength, and though there were hundreds of 
rebels on all sides of him, to the Boston Mountains he did not bid 
adieu, until of his own volition he reported with a small squad of 
men to General Herron at Cross Hollows, twenty-eight miles south 
of the Missouri line. As early as August it had been found imprac- 
ticable to take a number of recruits northward in a body, and 
Wilhite had accordingly determined to remain in the mountains, 
annoying the enemy and taking vengeance upon those who had so 
cruelly rob'bed and maltreated Union men, until his passage could 
be safely and easily made. 

From Cross Hollows Wilhite proceeded to Elkhorn Tavern, where 
he rejoined his company, and was at once appointed its first lieuten- 



THOMAS WILHITE. 103 

ant, a position that liad been left vacant for months in the hope that 
he would yet arrive to fill it. From that time onward Wilhite has 
been constantly engaged in active service, always entering with zest 
upon the adventures for which there is so much incentive on the 
Border. On one occasion while scouting below Fayette ville, and not 
far from his haunts of the summer previous, he drove in Marma- 
duke's pickets, and then suddenly wheeling, was off again to the 
northward. He participated in the nocturnal skirmish elsewhere 
mentioned, and while out made a descent into a cave, under circum- 
stances worthy perhaps of a relation. The cave in question was 
located about six miles southeast of Black's Mills, in Benton county, 
and was one in which men were known to occasionally secrete 
themselves. To it, on the afternoon preceding the skirmish, the 
detachment was conducted. Ai riving at its mouth, and observing 
traces of the recent entrance of some one, the men were disposed 
semi-circularly around it, and the unknown individual told to come 
out. No response. The order was repeated. Still no answer. 
Wilhite now volunteered to crawl in. Buckling a brace of revol- 
vers firmly about him, and grasping a third in his right hand, he 
commenced operations. Advancing on all fours, and moving about 
seventy -five yards into the cave, situated on a hill side he discovered 
a man crouching in apparently great fear. Breaking the silence by 
ordering him out, the figure began to move and he to follow. As 
the unknown individual approached the light, the men brought their 
pieces to the shoulder and awaited his appearance. Presently 
emerged a head, then shoulders, arms and hands. At sight of the 
men and their weapons, the unknown stopped while yet midway 
between the upper and nether earth, rested himself firmly on his 
hands, and looking queerly up and around him, exclaimed, " Well ! 
this beats me !" He was beaten surely enough, but found his cap- 



104 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



tors inclined to treat bim kindly. Taken to Elkhorn be was after 
wards released, but cautioned to refrain in tbe future from runnin 
wben be saw Federals. We know tbe man, and tbus far tbe advice 
has been beeded. 

We now leave tbe subject of tbis sketch. Rebels call bim a 
desperado, but be has fought only, and is now fighting, for " The 
Union, tbe Constitution, and tbe Laws." 

Fatetteville, Ark., 
February, 1863. 



er- I 



A PROVOST MARSHALSHIP. 



On the eighth day of January, of the present year, an order of 
the Provost Marshal General of the Army of the Frontier made us 
Provost Marshal of the post of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The posi- 
tion, under no circumstances a sinecure, was now doubly onerous. 
The returning loyalty of North-western Arkansas was eager to 
express itself, yet a vein of interest withal ran through the crowd, 
who daily thronged our " sanctum." Claims also of every descrip- 
tion were presented, some serious, some farcical, and it was not 
always easy to adjust them. The summariness of martial law, how- 
ever, enabled us to come to quick conclusions, and men very soon 
found out whether they " could or they could'nt." 

The duties of the office illustrated the multiform phases of public 
affairs. Exercising the functions of judge, jury and sheriff; em- 
powered to arrest deserters, whether regulars, volunteers or militia, 
and all disloyal persons ; to enquire into and report upon treason- 
able practices ; to seize stolen or embezzled property belonging to 
the Government ; to detect spies of the enemy, and put a stop to 
miscellaneous pillaging by lawless soldiery, a provost marshal in the 
enemy's country has enough to employ and quite sufficient to 
harass him. Added to these labors, bonds are to be taken and 
safeguards given ; a general pass system devised and occasionally 
re-constructed ; oaths of allegiance administered and paroles sub- 
scribed ; proofs of loyalty made and endorsed on vouchers, and 



106 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

voucliers themselves procured — in short, there is imposed upon 
him the general administration of law during a suspension of civil 
process. 

Every section has its peculiarities, and war makes them more 
prominent. In the South-west the men and women of the rural 
districts go to their centres of trade almost universally on horseback, 
and Saturday, when peace reigneth, is the merchant's harvest time. 

" Day of all the week most profitable, 
Ever longed for, buthebdomidal." 

Then, too, in time of war, a provost marshal's office is most crowded. 
As many birds as possible must be killed by the same stone, and 
while the good wife is making the most of her opportunities to 
gather the news of the town — often rumor of the most extravagant 
kind — her liege lord presents himself to the "j-jroi'os^'," and wants to 
prove his " loy-al-i-ty»^ 

" Well ! have you been in the rebel army ?" 

"No." 

'* Have you any sons?" 

" I have two." 

" Where are they ?" 

"I suppose they are in the Southern army, but they were con- 
scripted." 

" When did they enlist ?" 

" Last July, I reckon." 

" But the conscript act wasn't then in force." 

" Oh ! well," said the old fellow, not at all discomfited, " they en- 
listed rather than be compelled to." 

Such was the character of countless conversations, accumulating 
at last to such an extent, that we offered a pecuniary reward to the 
orderly who would bring before us a father willing to acknowledge 



A PROVOST MARSHALSHIP. lOY 

that his son had volunteered in the rebel army. We nevertheless 
strove, of course, to do justice in these cases, not considering it 
necessary to visit the iniquities of the children upon the fathers, 
unless it was clearly proper that they should atone for filial miscon- 
duct. 

The Government of the United States is not vindictive. It is 
sincerely desirous that those who have been led astray should return 
to theu' allegiance, and that a large proportion of the masses in the 
Southern States have been, there can be no reasonable doubt. Con- 
vince them that we are fighting for the " Old Constitution" as we 
are, and they will turn from the miserable will-o'-the-wisp that they 
have been following, and like the prodigal son, gladly return to 
their father's house. The Richmond Dispatch does not speak ex 
cathedra in the following editorial : 

" We warn the democrats and conservatives of the North, to dis- 
miss from their minds at once, the miserable delusion that the South 
can ever consent to enter agaiu, upon any terms, the old Union. If 
the North will allow us to write the Constitution ourselves, and give 
us every guarantee we would ask, we would sooner be under the 
government of England or France." 

Very probably the leaders of this rebellion, the ^''fire-eating,'''' 
slavery-perpetuating politicians of the South would. Their treason 
is too high-handed to overlook, and there is nothing strange or un- 
natural in their evident unwillingness to place their rebellious necks 
beneath the axe of offended law. The common people think differ- 
ently, where they are permitted to think at all. Nothing but the 
grossest misrepresentation keeps them in the ranks. Strike off the 
fetters that have converted public opinion into the will of the aris- 
tocratic few, let facts go before the people of the Southern States, 
and their army will melt away as General Hindman's dissolved after 



108 LOYALTi' ON THE FRONTIER. 

the battle of Prairie Grove — we ha-d . almost called it the sixteenth 
decisive battle of the world. 

"We repeat the idea, therefore, that the Federal Government does 
not cherish unreasonable animosities ; and that commander of an 
army or a post makes a great mistake who puts forth no effort to 
conciliate the inhabitants of a seceded State. It will not answer, 
on the other hand, to indiscriminately receive back into the fold 
those who have rebelled. The truly repentant must be distinguished 
from fawning hypocrites, and if, in the former case, a safeguard is 
given, a commensurate obligation, enforceable against property, 
should be received. Here again the provost marshal is resorted to, 
and has often to draw the bond not only, but sign and witness it, as 
Mr. A. writes a " slow^^ hand, or Mrs. B. has the palsy. While this 
operation is going on, perhaps a dozen or more crowd around him, 
clamoring for " protection papers," or something else, and getting a 
little excited, he breaks out — 

" Now, see here men, stand back. One at a time if you want to 
do business." 

"Are you the ^^provoseP^ interposes a rough looking specimen, 
just from the Cherokee line. 

" Yes. What do you want ?" relenting a little. 

" Them ar Pin * Ingins are pesterin me a heap, and I want a 
safe ge-ard." 

" Have you proven your loyalty ?" 

" I can, I reckon." 

" Well, go into the back room and try," and off he went. 



* The Pin Indians are Cherokees, so called from wearing pins on their hunting shirts, to 
distinguish them from the rebel members of their tribe. They belong to the John Ross 
party, and are staunch adherents of the Government. 



A PROVOST MARSHALSHIP. 109 

"Look he-ah, Mister, 'tend to me now," said a stout farmer, 
watching his opportunity. 

Not fancying his style of approach, we told him ive loould if we 
agreed to. 

" Is this where you get passes ?" cried an elderly woman, holding 
her riding dress in one hand, and a bag, supposed to contain salt, in 
the other. 

" Orderly ! show the lady into the other room." 

" Now sir," to the farmer, " I'll attend to you." 

" 1 wan ter know," said he, with great deliberation, and settling 
himself slowly into a chair, " I wan ter know whether this 'ere oath 
will prevent my givin a meal of vittals to my son, and keepin' him 
over night, should he come home from the Southern army ? Now 
I want to do what is right." 

We told him it would not ; that such conduct would be humanely 
construed, but that he must endeavor to keep his son from going 
back, and induce him to deliver himself up. 

"Now, another thing," said the farmer, with equal if not greater 
deliberation : " IVe lost a horse." 

We suspected as much, for these conversations were generally 
kept up by the spur of pecuniary interest. We resumed however. 

" Have you any idea what became of it ?" 

" Not certain, but some of them soldiers have got it, I reckon ; 
they're right smart stealers." 

Advising him to hunt for his horse before we gave the matter 
any further attention, we told him to call again. 

" But — " beginning anew, and showing no inclination to rise. 

"No matter about your 'buts,' we can do nothing for you now." 

At this he partially raised himself by the elbows of the chair, his 
countenance falling as his body rose. 



LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

" It was my last filly." 

" Can't help it, sir. It will be your first when you get it." 

He now departed, and as he left the room a stalwart " Pin," be- 
longing to Col. Phillips' Indian brigade, stalked in. Evidently 
wandering about to see what he could discover, as our eyes met, he 
came to a halt. 

" What can we do for you ?" we said, with as much of the suaviter 
in modo as we could command. 

" Ugh ! " responded the savage, blowing off an apparent surplus 
of breath. 

The ejaculation we knew to be undoubted Indian, but could not 
see its application as a response to our question. We therefore 
determined to try again, and as our knowledge of Cherokee was 
very limited, fell back on the Anglo Saxon. 

" What do you want ?" 

" Me Ingin," striking his breast. " Big Ingin ! Me much jay- 
hawk — steal horses ! " 

We thought as much, but in the absence of complaint had the 
aboriginal jay-hawker escorted to the street. 

Such is a faint reflex of the scenes enacted under our eye. They 
were not, perhaps, unusual, for the peculiar characteristics of the 
business of provost marshalships are co-extensive with their exist- 
ence. With all that is humorous or indecisive, justice is summarily 
administered, and the Gordian knot often cut, when in time of peace 
it were vain to attempt to untie it. Law, in fact, loses none of its 
majesty in the despatch of its operations, and the quick settlement 
of a difficulty the earlier buries it in oblivion. 

Fayetteville, Ark., 
Februari/, 1863. 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 



" Wild oats," to use a familiar phrase, are not always sown by the 
time an impulsive young man has attained his majority. A rash 
and boyish adventure occasionally begets a liking for peril, and 
from that time the staid and sober joys of home are apt to lose their 
charm, and the inclination of the hour becomes the impulse of a 
lifetime. In early boyhood the subject of this sketch launched his 
bark upon the world's turbulent sea, and it has been tossing about 
ever since. De Witt C. Hopkins was born at Franklin Mills, 
Portage county, Ohio, on the 8th of November, 1840. His father, 
Benjamin F. Hopkins, a successful merchant, had him taught the 
rudiments .of a good education, but from extreme youth he was 
rash and impulsive, and though quick of apprehension, was always 
restless and uneasy in the school room. As generous, however, as 
he was headstrong, he often gave to his companions the sly assist- 
ance, that the son of a man in easy circumstances has so many 
opportunities of extending. 

In March, 1852, he ran away. At that time " fillibustering" pos- 
sessed all its attractions. Dreams of adventure and conquest dis- 
turbed the thoughts of too many young Americans, and numbers 
enhsted under Walker and Lopez. Three young men from Portage 
county, a few years older than himself, induced young Hopkins to 
accompany them to New Orleans, thence to embark for Cuba. 
Under these circumstances he left his father's house, taking with him 



112 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

seven hundred and fifty dollars in money, to pay the expenses of the 
party and procure an outfit in the Crescent City. Arriving there 
without molestation, the young men soon made the acquaintance of 
Lopez, and tendered to him their services. A few days later the 
steamship Dancing Feather cleared from New Orleans with as pre- 
cious a cargo of rash humanity as ever walked the decks of a vessel. 
When fairly in the Gulf, Lopez addressed his men, telling them that 
Cuba belonged naturally to the United States, and that the present 
was the time to wrest her from imperious Spain. He told the men 
also, that the object of the expedition was more particularly to seize 
the Governor General of the island, which done, and ho taken away, 
negotiations could the more advantageously be entered into, or war 
the better prosecuted. 

Not long afterwards the steamship cast anchor in a secluded cove 
on the northwestern side of the island, but a day's march from 
Havana. The party, numbering between three and four hundred 
men, now landing, speedily put themselves in readiness for a forced 
march on the capital. It was the intention to enter the city by its 
main gate, and proceed at once to the house of the Governor Gen- 
eral, situated near the Grand Plaza, seize him, and hurry out of the 
city with their prize before a general alarm could be given. 
Approaching this gate, therefore, just after dark, the sentinel gave 
an alarm, but was instantly shot, when Lopez hurried forward to the 
house of the Governor General. Arriving there a few minutes later, 
a quick but thorough search was made for him, yet to no purpose. 

Warning had been giv^en, and he was now arousing the soldiery 
and populace for the capture of the bold adventurers. In an 
incredibly brief period of time the Grand Plaza was thronged with 
maddened men, and the " fiUibusters " were speedily compelled to 
see each to his personal safety. Leaving their guns in the house of 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 113 

the Governor General, and determining to keep together if they 
could, young Hopkins and his three friends, with pistols belted 
about them, stealthily moved oft". Their boyish appearance saved 
them in a measure from suspicion, and they succeeded in reaching 
uninjured the suburbs of the city. Concealing themselves beneath 
fig trees until day-light, they then hurried to the beach, striking it 
near a bath house, where from a distance they had observed a boat 
fastened to a stake. 

About this time they were discovered, when they made all haste 
to put to sea. As the boat was being cast off", and just as Albert 
Clark, one of their number, was about to enter it, ho was mortally 
wounded. The living had now no time to attend to the dying, and 
barely saved their own lives by putting boldly to sea, some oars 
having fortunately been left in the boat. They rowed hard, exert- 
ing all their strength to keep away from the shore, preferring very 
decidedly the perils of the sea to those of the land. On the evening 
of the next day, and when nearly exhausted, they were picked up by 
the steamship Mexico and taken to New Orleans. 

For a boy twelve years of age, as young Hopkins was, this was 
an adventure quite unusual, to say the least, and seemed to have had 
a salutary effect upon him. He telegraphed promptly to his father 
that he was in New Orleans, and a few weeks later was again 
beneath the parental roof. He now remained at home, going most 
of the time to school, until the month of April, 1854, when the fam- 
ily started southward, journeying for pleasure and the health of his 
mother. 

Sojourning some weeks at Havana, Hopkins became acquainted 
with a dashing young Spaniard, for whom, not long afterwards, he 
acted as a second in a duel fought with another Spaniard. Making 
their preparations according to the " code," the parties repaired to 



114 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

a secluded spot in the rear of More Castle, and with short swords 
commenced paying tribute to honor. After cutting and guarding, 
thrusting and parrying in true Castilian style, for several minutes, a 
fortunate lunge for young Hopkins' principal ended the affair. One 
carriage drove to a grave-yard, the other to a restaurant. A few 
weeks later Mr. Hopkins sailed with his family for ludianola, in 
Matagorda Bay, and from there went up the bay to Port la Vaca. 
After bathing one day a difficulty sprung up between young Hop- 
kins and a sou of Dr. Johnson, residing in the place. Hopkins 
challenged the other boy ; the challenge was accepted ; pistols and 
knives were chosen ; the beach was selected as the place for opera- 
tions, and the duel was to be fought at once. At a given signal 
each party was to fire three shots, and if ineffective the duel was to 
be terminated with knives at close quarters, the left hands of the 
combatants being tied behind their backs. The firing took place 
without result, and just as the maddened boys were about to " close 
in," some men appeared upon the scene of action, took forcible pos- 
sesion of the young duellists, and without hesitation threw them 
both into the bay. The men did not interfere, however, with their 
struggles after terra firma^ and for the time being the effect of thi^ 
involuntary baptism was salutary. 

Later in the day the boys came together again, and undertook 
anew the vindication of their injured honor. At the second fire 
Hopkins wounded his antagonist in the left arm, when the whole 
party suddenly decamped. This rash affair came near seriously 
troubling his father, but was finally adjusted to the satisfaction of 
all concerned. From Port La Vaca, the family went to a plantation 
near Victoria, when young Hopkins, becoming involved in a diffi- 
culty with its proprietor, suddenly started for the City of Mexico. 
Temporarily away from the plantation, on returning, Mr. Hopkins, 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 115 

senior, learned from his younger son the course De Witt had pur- 
sued, and having previously intended to visit the Aztec Metropolis, 
followed, in a few days, his wayward boy. He arrived at the city 
two weeks after De Witt, who by this time had become quite fami- 
liar with the amusements of that " free and easy" capital. Of cock 
fights and bull fights he could talk like a connoisseur, and behaved 
very much as do other ardent young men amid the surroundings of 
a seductive city. 

The sojourn of the family in Mexico was brief, and embarking at 
Corpus Christi, they shortly afterwards reached New Orleans. From 
thence they traveled at their leisure up the Red River to Shreve- 
port, Louisiana ; thence again to the Hot Springs, in Arkansas, and 
from there to Louisville, Kentucky, where it had become necessary 
for the father to transact some business. This disposed of, the family 
turned their faces anew to the South, and passed the approaching 
winter at Holly Springs, Mississippi. In the spring they returned 
home, where young Hopkins remained until the year 1858, when, 
his mother's health continuing poor, his father, with a view to a 
change of residence that should bring relief, purchased a section of 
land in McDonald county, the extreme southwestern portion of Mis- 
souri, and during the year settled upon it. 

Mr. Hopkins had chosen a very eligible location upon Buffalo 
Creek, a small stream emptying into the Cowskin or Elk river, was 
himself extremely well pleased with the country, especially in its 
climate and soil, and hoped to have no occasion for the old cause 
to re-commence a traveling experience. His farm was situated three 
miles from the Cherokee line, and two and a half from the Council 
House of the Seneca Nation. To young Hopkins this proximity of 
the Indian tribes soon became attractive, and his adventurous in- 
clinations were often gratified by lengthened excursions into the 



116 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

interior of their couDtry. To pleasure, however, he added profit, 
moving about as a trader from place to place, bartering- especially 
among the Creeks, Cherokees and Osages, and thus acquiring a 
familiar knowledge of their languages and habits, that in his subse- 
quent adventures proved to be of great value. 

In the spring of 1861 he made arrangements to participate with 
a band of Osages in a grand buffalo hunt to the Rocky Mountains, 
but the war breaking out the project was abandoned. From coun- 
cil fires he returned home, and though rebel influence was powerful 
in McDonald county, he took no part in the earliest events of rebel- 
lion in the Southwest. In June, 1861, he was living quietly at 
home, determined, nevertheless, to avail himself of the first oppor- 
tunity to render his country a substantial service. During this 
month the armies of Price and McCuUough concentrated on Cow- 
skin Prairie, a few miles from Mr. Hopkins' farm, and for two weeks 
the family mansion was appropriated as General Price's Head-quar- 
ters. While the house was thus occupied, young Hopkins had fre- 
quent opportunities of learning rebel intentions, and ascertaining one 
day, that a junction was to be immediately effected with troops 
under Governor Jackson and General Rains, then moving southward 
from the Missouri river, he determined to apprise a Union force at 
Neosho, twenty miles northeasterly, of the fact, and also of their 
own imminent danger. He had, moreover, observed during the day, 
strong patrols going up the Neosho road, and conjectured that a 
movement was on foot. 

Waiting, therefore, until nearly midnight, he mounted a horse, and 
spurring over the hills, arrived at Neosho before day-break. A 
Teutonic captam was in command, holding the town with a force 
of one hundred and fifty men only. Hopkins warned him of his 
danger; told him that the rebels were advancing in overwhelming 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 11*7 

numbers, and that he ought, by all means, to at least send out 
mounted patrols. But the wrong-headed German would take no 
advice, and Hopkins galloped on to overtake Colonel Sigel, then 
marching on Carthage to intercept Jackson and Rains. Coming up 
with him on the morning of the fifth of July, and while actually 
engaged in battle, he informed him of the movements of Price and 
McCullough. A messenger was immediately dispatched to Neosho, 
but to no purpose. He was captured before arriving there, and 
when the town itself had been several hours in possession of the 
rebels. The valiant captain and his entire command were now 
prisoners of war, and under guard at Neosho, were having ample 
time to reflect upon the unpleasantness of a situation as disgraceful 
as it was unnecessary. 

From Carthage, Col. Sigel fell back to Mount Vernon, young 
Hopkins acting as a guide. The latter now determined to revisit 
his home, and if possible put himself in such an attitude that he 
could remain there until other opportunities should be presented to 
give information to the Federal army. To this end he arrayed 
himself in the home-spun of the country — a process, however, that 
required but slight modifications of his former garb — and started out 
alone and on a circuitous route, first for lower Kansas and the 
Indian Nation. Arriving at Humboldt he struck thence for the 
Neosho river, down that to Grand River, and from the latter stream 
wended his way to the Grand Saline, (salt works,) in the Cherokee 
Nation. He now purchased a pair of Indian ponies, with the view 
ostensibly of selling them to the Confederate army, when he should 
have reached it from below. From the Grand Saline he went to 
Telequah, and from thence to Maysville, Benton county, Arkansas. 

Learning now that the rebels were concentrating again and re- 
organizing their forces on Cowskin Prairie, he entered the camp 



118 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

from the South-West, leading one pony and riding the other. 
Meeting a number of old acquaintances, he regretted very much his 
inability to be at the Carthage fight, and rejoiced with them over 
the easy surrender of the redoubtable Teuton, who commanded at 
Neosho. His character as a sympathizing Indian trader giving him 
ready currency, he sold one of his animals, and retaining the other, 
passed on homeward, but soon found that he could not remain there 
in safety. His sudden disappearance at a critical juncture had been 
observed, and he saw that he was an object of suspicion. A very 
few days, in fact, sufiiced to warn him of his danger, and he was 
compelled to abandon his father's roof for the woods hard by. 

On one occasion he was near the house, when a party of men 
rode suddenly up and demanded his forthcoming;. Listening to 
their conversation with his father, he gathered enough of it to 
induce him to show himself, to prevent the burning of the house, 
but in such a way that his presence should be felt as well as seen. 
He was well mounted, an intrepid rider, and dashing past them, 
discharged both barrels of a shot gun, and spurred into a thicket. 
Attention was now directed from the house, the party riding after 
him, save two crippled rebels, who were the unfortunate recipients 
of this unexpected salutation. Escape, nevertheless, was easy, and 
as soon as his pursuers were baffled, young Hopkins cautiously 
approached the house of Small Cloud Spicer, acting Chief of the 
Seneca Nation. A minor. Curly Eye Butterfly, was the heir appa- 
rent, but to Small Cloud was entrusted the management of the 
affairs of the tribe, and Hopkins, previously acquainted with him, 
believed his protection to be worth the seeking. It v/as cheerfully 
but cautiously accorded, and to avoid suspicion, a hiding place a 
short distance off, near the Cowskin river, was pointed out. There 
Hopkins secreted himself for several days, his food being brought to 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 119 

him by an Indian maiden, daughter of Small Cloud, when learn- 
ing that his enemies had left the vicinity, he ventured to return 
home. 

Shortly after this occurrence, a dancing party assembled at the 
house of a Captain Parks, in the Cherokee nation. Ascertaining in 
advance that a number of rebel officers were expected to grace the 
occasion with their presence, Hopkins determined to attend, for the 
double purpose of enjoying himself and gathering information of 
army movements. Inviting an Indian girl, he led her in due time 
to the floor, but had scarcely done so when a stalwart Cherokee 
brushed past him in a manner that, by the customs of the tribe, 
could only be construed into a deliberate affront. It was so in- 
tended, in fact, for the same dusky damsel had declined him as an 
escort to the dance, our friend having pre-occupied the ground. 
The insult was promptly resented, and the ball came suddenly and 
tragically to a close. While the company had been assembling, 
young Hopkins learned that a movement was in contemplation 
against General Lyon, but not possessed of sufficient information to 
warrant the hazards of a trip to Union headquarters, returning home 
he tendered his services to General Rains. They were accepted, 
and he was established at headquarters, a voluntary aid-de-camp 
without rank or braid. 

On the 9th of August the rebels were so to move, as to attack 
Springfield at daylight on the 10th, and Hopkins becoming satisfied 
that such was the intention, essayed to reach the Federal lines. He 
was arrested, however, just outside of the rebel lines, by a patrol of 
Louisiana troops, and it required all his coolness and address to 
sustain even partially, the character of forager for the General's 
mess. Considered a suspicious personage he was taken to camp, 
and placed under guard, his case to be disposed of after the expected 



120 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

battle then absorbing attention. For various reasons sufficiently 
well known, the contemplated advance on the night of the 9th was 
not made, and on the following morning the battle was fought at 
Wilson's Creek, ten miles southwesterly from Springfield. During 
the engagement Hopkins was kept with Woodruff's battery, but in 
the evening the guards left him, wild, like their comrades, over the 
unexpected success of the rebel arms. Springing now on to a horse 
he rode rapidly homeward. Alternating between the house and the 
woods, he remained in the vicinity until General Fremont's arrival 
at Springfield, an event that hastened his departure, successfully now, 
to the Federal lines. Arriving at Flat Creek he reported to Sigel, 
commanding the advance, and was placed at once in the corps of 
secret service men. In January following he was sent southward 
by General Curtis, then commanding the army of the Southwest, 
to proceed to the Arkansas river. 

The rebels then held Arkansas and South-western Missouri ; were 
making extensive preparations for the battle fought afterwards at Pea 
Ridge, and to enter their lines, much more to pass through them to 
the river in question, was an undertaking as difficult as hazardous. 
Providing himself with a suit of the most approved Confederate 
gray; dyeing his hair and whiskers; adjusting a pair of goggles; 
mounting a " C. S." horse, and assuming the character of a Missouri 
officer, returning from a recruiting expedition, he struck into the 
Indian Nation, and then boldly southward. It required now all his 
address to avoid suspicion, but his confidence increased with his 
peril. 

Courage on the battle-field, questionable oft times, as advancing 
columns approach each other, is thoroughly roused by a few volleys, 
but the cool, deliberate daring of the spy — the resolution that 
braves reproach, ignominy and death, belongs to men of other stamp. 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 121 

The services of this class are as old as war, and though the spy may 
occasionally fail of his object, and impart information to be received 
with allowances, he is indispensable, and so far as money can reward, 
Government looks well to his interests. 

At the time of which we write. Fort Smith, situated at the junc- 
tion of tbe Arkansas and Poteau rivers, and directly on the line 
between the State of Arkansas and the Choctaw nation, was a 
central point in rebel scheming in the Southwest; where troops were 
gathered ; from which news of importance to the army was set in 
motion, and where, within the fortress of the same name, magnates 
of the new Confederacy met to eat, drink and plot treason. Here, 
in Februar}^, 1862, Ben McCnllough sneered at Northern prowess, 
and here, in March, was buried, falling at Pea Ridge before the aim 
of Peter Pellican, a private of Company "B," of the 36th Illinois 
Infantry Volunteers. The officers' mess at the fort was kept by 
a Mrs. Preston, and it was customary to lay the table for supper 
immediately after dark. Formality in coming and going was dis- 
pensed with ; the place in this particular assuming more the char- 
acter of a restaurant than officers' quarters. Of these peculiarities 
Hopkins was cognizant, and moving rapidly through the Cherokee 
Nation, arrived on the evening of the fourth day out at a friendly . 
house on the northern bank of the Arkansas, a mile from the Fort. 
During the night and the next day, he remained in the neighbor- 
ing cane, and as darkness set in moved for the river. His garb 
securing ferriage across without difficulty, he rode boldly up to the 
main entrance, saluted the sentinel on duty as he passed, and with 
the air of an hahituey dismounted in front of the officers' quarters 
tied his horse, and walked with the utmost nonchalance into the 
supper room. 

It so happened that the bell had just been rung, and entering with 



122 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

others, he quietly took a seat at the foot of the table. There were 
seated about it, General Mcintosh (killed at Pea Ridge), Major 
Montgomery, of the Quartermaster's Department, and other promi- 
nent officers. The conversation turned upon the all absorbing 
events of the time ; the probable advance of General Curtis, and 
their own state of preparation, and was in no wise restrained by the 
presence of the pseudo recruiting officer. The viands disposed of, 
the position was becoming embarrassing, and Hopkins wished for 
nothing so much, as that his brother officers should rise and precede 
him from the room, but they pertinaciously clung to their seats. At 
length, conscious that he could remain no longer without exciting 
suspicion, he rose and moved unconcernedly toward the door. 
Now, for the first time, he arrested attention. As he passed Gen- 
eral Mcintosh, that officer turned sharply around — 

" Who do you belong to ?" he enquired with more emphasis than 
politeness. 

" Quartermaster's Department, Little Rock ! " was the ready 
response. , 

" What's that you say ?" said Major Montgomery, starting up 
from the other side of the table. 

Seeing, on the instant, that his affairs were likely to take a 
disastrous turn, and without venturing a reply, he rushed quickly 
out, cut the strap with which his horse was tied, and dashed for the 
fortress gate leading into Garrison avenue — the avenue to the river. 
For a few moments the officers at the fort were so startled by the 
strange occurrence that they lost their self-possession. Recovering 
it they gave the alarm ; shouted to the sentinel on duty at the gate 
to " halt the dare-devil," and harmlessly discharged one or two 
pistols. By this time Hopkins had passed the guard, though shot 
at and slightly wounded as he darted by, and was galloping at a 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 123 

farious rate down the avenue. Arriving at the river he spurred his 
horse boldly in, and sliding off in a manner not unfamiliar to those 
whose army experiences have compelled them to swim streams too 
deep to be forded, grasped the animal by the caudal extremity, and 
making a rudder of himself, landed finally on the opposite bank. 
Remaining unobserved that night and the next day in the friendly 
cane, while an active search was being made for him, apparently in 
almost every direction, he then struck northward, moving up by 
Frog Bayou through Crawford, Washington and Benton counties, 
Arkansas, and after the lapse of several days reported to Gen. Sigel. 

While McCullough's army was lying at Cross Hollows in the 
February following, Hopkins appeared within the lines with two 
artillery horses for sale. Readily bargaining them away for Con- 
federate notes, he delivered one, and at his own request was 
permitted to retain the other until the following morning. Mean- 
time he quietly prepared to run the pickets, and about 9 o'clock in 
the evening approached those stationed on the telegraph road 
leading to Elk Horn Tavern. 

"Who comes there?" shouted a voice from the road side. 

" Friend with the countersign," w^as the quick reply. 

" Advance, friend, and give it." 

Hopkins now rode rapidly forward, answered the demand with 
the quick discharge of both barrels of a shot gun at the astonished 
soldiers, and spurring onward through the darkness, was soon out of 
harm's way. A month later he participated in the battle on Pea 
Ridge, and after that engagement, was for some time employed as a 
general scout for the post at Cassville. Thus engaged when Col, 
Harrison began recruiting for the First Arkansas Cavalry, he 
ardently seconded his efforts, and received power to recruit for the 
proposed regiment. 



124 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

On the 5th of April, 1862, he left Cassville, and shortly after 
midnight of the same day arrived at the Widow Christie's, on Pool's 
Prairie, Newton county, Missouri. Tired, hungry, and drenched 
with rain, he roused the occupants, and was admitted to the house. 
His horse, upon the advice of the widow, was secreted in the neigli- 
boring bushes, as Livingston's men, notorious bushwhackers, were 
constantly prowling about the locality. He had scarcely disposed 
himself by the fire, when the house-dog raised a warning bark, that 
was answered by the clearly distinguishable clattering of hoofs 
close to the house. Verily the Philistines were now upon him, 
though not probably aware of his presence. His feminine friend, 
alarmed, nevertheless, for his safety, threw up the quilts and mat- 
tress of a bed in an adjoining room, and told him to jump under- 
neath them. In he went with boots, spurs, hat, and a fair represen- 
tation of south-western mud. The clothes were covered over him, 
and save a moderate increase of altitude, the bed was in statu quo. 
The approaching party were indeed Livingston's men, and a few 
minutes later they entered the house. The widow accounted for 
the light at so unusual an hour by saying that she was unwell, and 
had risen to prepare a warm cup of tea. 

The excuse was satisfactory, and after a brief halt the marauders 
departed. Hopkins now emerged from his place of concealment, 
and shortly afterwards was galloping away to the westward. Re- 
cruiting as he passed along, he had collected between twenty and 
thirty men, when his services as a scout were desired by Major 
Hubbard, of the First Missouri Cavalry, then scouring south-western 
Missouri. They were promptly given, and to his intrepid guidance 
is due much of the praise properly accorded to our forces for their 
operations against Waitie, Coffee and the rebel Indians, in the 
spring of 1862. 



I 



DE WITT C. HOPKINS. 



After the affair at Neosho, in which Major Hubbard obtained a 
signal success over the enemy, Hopkins, worn down with incessant 
riding, left the command, and repaired to a private house for rest. 
A portion of the 31th. Illinois Infantry Volunteers had encamped 
near by, and it was Hopkins' intention to move on with them in 
the morning to Cassville. When morning came, however, the 
troops had departed, and he found himself alone in the enemy's 
country. Nothing was left, of course, but to follow on, which ho 
did, gaily and unconcernedly — for the rebels had been most thor- 
oughly whipped — when suddenly there sprang from the road-side, as 
he was passing a secluded spot, half a dozen armed men, who checked 
him with the well understood " Halt !" There was no alternative, 
and he surrendered. This occurrence took place on the 2'7th of 
April. On the 1st of May he was sent under charges as a sp}^, by^ 
Colonel Waitie, to General Cooper's headquarters, on Buck Creek,, 
in the Choctaw nation, and from there to Fort McCullough, where 
General Pike, as commander of the district of Indian Territory, wa& 
then stationed. Here he was detained two weeks, but uniformly 
treated with great kindness by General Pike. Returned then to 
Cooper's command, he was forwarded from it to Norfolk, on the 
north fork of the Canadian river, and from there to Colonel Waitie's 
camp, then pitched on Cowskin Prairie, in south-western Missouri. 

His trial was now entered upon, but while pending, an adjourn- 
ment took place, and he was sent to Fort Smith, where the remain- 
der of the evidence against him was to be taken. At that place the 
trial was concluded, the prisoner convicted and sentenced to be 
hung, and the record sent up to General Pike, for the usual super- 
vision of a commanding officer. With Albert Pike the discharge of 
such a duty was no mere formality, and the result of his reviewing 
was a reversal of the decision of the court below, on the ground, as 



126 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

we understand the point involved, that the offence committed, if 
committed at all, took place within the territorial limits of the State 
of Missouri, which, so far as the Government of the Confederate 
States was concerned, was conquered territory in the possession of 
the Federal forces; and that therefore Hopkins could not, by the 
laws of war, be regarded as a spy, but was entitled to the treatment 
and disposition given to other prisoners of war. He was held, 
nevertheless, but his confinement was made less rigorous, the free- 
dom of a dungeon being substituted for the close quarters of a ball 
and chain, with a staple in the floor to give them locality. 

x\bout this time Majors Hubbard and Miller made their dashing 
entrance into Fayetteville, and the report came to Fort Smith that 
Judge David Walker, whom we elsewhere mention, had been 
killed. The rebels at the Fort were quite naturally enraged at such 
a proceeding, and " blood for blood" was demanded for the supposed 
outrage. Hopkins wns their selection, and his execution was 
ordered to take place one afternoon at four o'clock. Fortunately, 
on the morning of the dreaded day, news was received that Judge 
Walker was still alive and unharmed, and the execution was indef- 
initely 2^ostponed. Hopkins now received the treatment to which 
he was entitled, and on the 2d of August, 1862, left Fort Smith for 
exchange at Cassville. Reporting to Colonel Harrison at Spring- 
field, he was promoted to the captaincy of company " I " of the regi- 
ment in which he had enlisted some months previously, and since 
re-entering the service has been constantly on duty, proving himself 
under all circumstances to be a very bold, daring, and efficient 
officer. He has been engaged in skirmishes without number, and as 
the commander of a reconnoitering party, we do not know his equal. 

Fatbtteville, Ark., 
February, 1863. 



I 



JOHN W. MORRIS 



The experience of John W. Morris constitutes a marked instance 
of rebel intimidation and tyranny. An order-loving, law-abiding 
citizen, quietly pursuing his calling, he has been made to feel the 
iron hand of persecution, and knows from sad reality how tender 
are the mercies of Southern domination. Born in Giles county, 
Tennessee, August 1, 1834, he emigrated, when a boy, to Searcy 
county Arkansas, and with the exception of two years passed in the 
adjoining county of Pope, has always resided there. In August, 
ISoY, he married, and when the rebellion broke out was farming in 
Calf Creek Township. 

In politics his relatives were nearly equally divided, and at a time 
when party rancor culminated in party hate, the embarrassment of 
such a position can only be appreciated by those who have been 
similarly situated. His father-in-law, John Campbell, of Searcy 
county, was a delegate to the State Convention, of which mention 
has already been made, elected as a Union man, but like all his 
compeers, Isaac Murphy alone excepted, he " fell from grace " on 
the memorable 6th of May, 1861, not having the moral courage 
to say no, when the bitterness of popular excitement bade him 
say aye. 

At this time the " Peace Organization Society " was in operation 
in Searcy and the adjoining counties, and Mr. Morris connected 
himself with it. This circumstance was not known at the time. 



128 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

but his conduct had nevertheless made him an object of suspicion 
with the rebel authorities. He was narrowly watched for some 
months, and on the 28th of October, 1861, was arrested at Bur- 
roughville, the county seat of Searcy. He had heard of the arrest 
there, without cause, of Union men, but doubting the accuracy of the 
rumor in its full extent, determined to ascertain for himself the 
true situation of affairs. Accompanied by a brother-in-law, he had 
scarcely entered the place, when two double-barreled shot guns 
were thrust in their faces, and they were insolently told that they 
were prisoners. John Smith and Mark Hogan, two notorious rebels 
of that locality, effected their arrest, and took the prisoners at once 
before a Colonel Alexander Ham, then organizing the militia of the 
county. By him Mr. Morris was briefly questioned, and then taken 
to the Court House, where, with others, he was imprisoned for two 
weeks. A trial was promised but none had, and after being 
imprisoned as stated, he, with seventy-six other State prisoners, 
was marched to Little Rock, a distance of one hundred and twenty- 
five miles. 

They were all American citizens, had injured no man, and were 
arrested simply for refusing to disregard the Constitution which they 
had sworn to support. They were traitors to treason, " only this 
and nothing more." Rebels call them Southern tories, but God 
never made a tory of a man who had sworn to support, protect and 
defend the American Constitution, and kept his oath. Let the 
curse of an ignominous epithet rather, rest upon the high born men 
of the South, who, rendered imperious by their education, and 
tyrannical by their insolence, have followed the ignis fatuus of a 
Trans- Atlantic aristocracy, and made the name of rebel even, a weak 
indication of turpitude. 

Error has ever begotten outraoje, and in this instance it was 



JOHN W. MORRIS. 1^:9 

doubly refined. The seventy-seven were chained together two 
and two, with an ordinary log chain fastened about the neck of each, 
and for twenty-four hours prior to their departure from Burrough- 
ville were thus guarded, in two ranks, as it were, with a long chain 
running down the centre of the column. But rebel cruelty in this 
instance was foiled by its own invention, for before the party started 
on its toilsome march, the brutal guard discovered that this disposi- 
tion of their prisoners was not at all favorable to pedestrianism. 
Inclination gave way to humanity, and the prisoners were fastened 
together by twos only, the odd man bringing up the rear with a 
chain encircling his neck and thrown over a shoulder, that his 
walking might not be impeded. Six days were spent in the march 
to Little Rock, and a guard of one hundred men detailed. Arriving 
there fatigued, worn out and still in chains, they were marched into 
the hall of the House of Representatives, and addressed by Governor 
Rector. He offered them their choice, either to volunteer in the 
rebel service or go to jail, and await trial for treason, giving them 
ih.Q flattering assurance that if they accepted the latter alternative, 
four or six months might elapse before trials could be had, and that 
should they insist upon them then, he was very confident that they 
would be hung. 

Such was the conduct of the Executive of the State towards 
citizens whom he was bound to protect. It was coercion in its 
worst form ; the blind zeal of infuriate fanaticism. The prisoners 
were helpless, and with the exception of two, who were not per- 
mitted the alternative, volunteered. These men were thrown into 
prison, remained there a few months, and were then unexpectedly 
released. After the prisoners had determined their choice, their 
chains were stricken off, and before leaving the hall, they were 
organized into a company, and a Captain and three Lieutenants 



130 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

appointed over them. Four days later they left Little Rock for 
Memphis. Remaining there two weeks, they were ordered thence 
to Bell's Station, in Kentucky, twenty-five miles north of Bowling 
Green. They had previously been assigned to a regiment com- 
manded by Colonel, now General Marmaduke, and insufficiently fed 
and poorly clothed, but well armed, they were thenceforth placed 
in active service. 

While at this station Morris attempted an escape. Marmaduke, 
learning that a detachment of Union soldiers had crossed Green 
river, marched one night in January, 1862, with a detachment of 
six hundred men to surprise them. Our friend was one of the 
party, and marched on apparently with as much zest as any of his 
fellows. He shortly, however, found a pretext for " falling out," 
and making the most of his opportunity, took a direct course for 
the Federal lines. For several hours he hurried on undisturbed, 
but suddenly falling in with, and being arrested by rebel pickets 
near Cave City, where he least expected to find them, all his wits 
were needed to account for his moving about alone at so late an 
hour of the night. He was at once suspected and taken before the 
Captain of the guard, who charged him with attempting to escape. 
This he stoutly denied, insisting that he could not avoid " falling 
out;" that doing so he had taken the wrong road, and when 
arrested was in search of his command. 

The end justified the means in this extremity, but it did not 
protect him from ill-treatment. The Lieutenant of the guard 
taunted him with being one of those " d — d Arkansas jayhawkers, 
sent out by Hindman ;" communicating also the comforting intelli- 
gence, that none of Dawson's company should return to that State, 
and authoritatively enquiring of the guard why they had not shot 
him. 



JOHN W. MORRIS. 131 

At this juncture the Captain interfered in his behalf, and the next 
day he was returned to his company. The regiment falling back 
to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he was there taken sick and sent to a 
hospital. Recovering, he rejoined his regiment at Corinth, Missis- 
sippi, and was with it at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing. At 
that time, the band of seventy-seven men, marched into Little Rock 
as related, had been reduced by sickness, desertion and death to 
ten. It had been more than decimated. Hard marching while 
barefooted and sore ; clothing that the Lazaroni of Naples would 
have spurned ; food that sickened but could not satisfy, and above all 
a lack of confidence on the part of officers, that converted discipline 
into cruelty, had made the lives of these men miserable mockeries 
of existence, and the company wasted away as though swept by a 
sirocco. 

The first day of the engagement the remaining ten men were 
placed in the front rank in line of battle, officers plainly avowing 
that they had no confidence in them, but that they would probably 
be of some service in warding ofi" Federal bullets from loyal South- 
ern men. With such encouragement they went under fire, and a 
few hours later eight of the ten were either killed or wounded. 
Morris was wounded severely in the foot and borne from the field. 
He was taken to an apology for a hospital near by, and there per- 
mitted to remain, his wound receiving no attention whatever until 
the next day. By that time — to employ a collocation of terms 
somewhat common of late — "secesh" having "skedaddled," he was 
hurried with their other wounded soldiers into a cart and driven to, 
or rather towa^-ds Corinth ; for the rains descending and the mules 
miring, in a manner that the experiences of the present rebellion 
have rendered historical, his arrival as hoped for was prevented. 
But, even misery has its mirth, and his suff'erings not being abso- 



132 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

lutely intolerable, he found diversion in the floundering of the mules; 
the wrathful expletives of the driver, and the peculiar inducements 
to alternately go ahead and halt, that nothing but a mule can 
understand. The mud, however, would not share in the defeat of 
the party, and the wounded men, mutually supporting each other, 
were compelled to trust to their own crippled limbs for locomotion 
to Corinth. There a furlough was given to Morris, and he went 
home, experiencing on the way many privations and hardships. 
His wound healing, the old determination to abandon a service 
that he loathed, broke out afresh. He had been forced into the 
rebel army, and neither reason nor justice, demanded that he should 
again imperil his life for men who had no regard for his own. 
Becoming once more an object of suspicion, he soon discovered that 
his life was in danger, if he remained longer at home. Determining 
to escape northward, and leaving his family in as comfortable a con- 
dition as he could, he " took to the woods." and arrived at Spring- 
field, Missouri, on the sixth day of July, 1862. 

The First Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry Volunteers was then 
forminor there, and receiving authority to recruit, he aided mate- 
rially in raising Company "H" of this regiment, and was afterwards 
commissioned its first lieutentant — a position that he now holds. 

As an officer he has shown himself prompt and faithful in the 
discharge of duty, but higher than this, a man whose patriotism has 
stood the test of adversity and persecution, and who will yet, if the 
opportunity be given to him, strike for his family and fireside with 
vigor that will be its own defender. 

Camp at Prairie Grove, Ark., 
December, 1862. 



PARIS G. STRICKLAND. 



Like the subject of the last sketch, Paris G. Strickland, may be 
considered a representative of rebel oppression in Searcy county. 
Born in Alabama, December 6, 1831, emigrating to Arkansas when 
a child, and living ever on Southern soil as a Southern man, he has 
given his enemies no cause for distrust by reason of birth or associa- 
tions. A substantial citizen and identified for years with the best 
interests of his section, he promptly expressed himself in favor of the 
Union, when secession thrust forth its hideous head. He is, in fact, 
one of those comparatively few men whose convictions, under 
similar circumstances, have not been effected by timidity or fear, 
and who, regardless of personal consequences, have been frank and 
outspoken in the demonstration of loyalty. 

Of the " Peace Organization Society " he was a member, and 
labored industriously to disseminate its views, dominant among 
which was the assertion of the right of communities to combine 
together for the mutual protection of life and property. The 
society had its ramifications especially in Conway, Marion, Pope, 
Searcy and Van Buren counties, and members knew each other in 
the customary manner of secret associations. Although seeking 
tranquihty amidst disturbances of the most alarming character, the 
order, if it may so be termed, was thoroughly loyal, and in a State 
and at a time, where and when armed opposition to the rebel 
powers would have been fruitless of good result, was quietly mould- 



134 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

ing a public sentiment that in time would have been able to coun- 
teract the rebellious proclivities of the locality, had it not early 
been betrayed. 

One John Holmes, of Van Buren county, and a Mr. Garrison, 
whose christened name and precise residence we have not learned, 
worthless characters both, are entitled to this miserable distinction, 
and should they now be living can lay claim to an amount of misery 
and destitution altogether beyond their feeble power of atonement. 
Through their instrumentality the names of a large number of men 
belonging to the order, were reported to the State Militia, and the 
order itself was effectually broken up. Seventy-six loyal citizens of 
Arkansas, whose only offense was devotion to the flag of their 
fathers, were cruelly incarcerated at Burroughville, the county seat 
of Searcy county, and afterward, as we have elsewhere stated, 
marched to Little Rock. There must be, nevertheless, some excuse 
for such conduct, other than the fact that the arrested men were 
averse to bearing arms for the Southern Confederacy. The sweep- 
ing accusation of jay -hawking and robbing was preferred, and the 
societ}'' charged with entering into a conspiracy to plunder and 
murder citizens of the secession party. As cause of complaint, 
these aspersions were wholly groundless, yet they served admirably 
to stimulate the blind zeal of the ignorant instruments of the rebel 
authorities. Concert of action was thus, in a great measure, disturb- 
ed, yet Union men occasionally met each other, and though unable 
to ameliorate their condition, strengthened their loyalty by the 
secret but effective interchange of mutual beliefs, hopes and fears. 

There has been presented to us the original draft of a series of 
resolutions read and approved at the house of David C. Ruff, in 
Calf Creek Township, Searcy county, on the 2oth day of November, 
1861, at an interview attended by between thirty and forty citizens 



PARIS G. STRICKLAND. 135 

of the county, Mr. Strickland among the number, and as they 
breathe the inspiration of a genuine loyalty — loyalty that was nour- 
ished at the hazard of home, fortune, life itself — it may not be amiss 
to insert them : 

" Whereas, It is reported that many of our peaceable, orderly 
and law-abiding citizens have been accused of entering into a con- 
spiracy^against the secession party, for the purpose of murdering, 
robbing and plundering the citizens of that party ; and, whereas^ 
many of our citizens have already been arrested and are held in 
custody, or imprisoned, and denied the right of trial, or to be heard 
in their own defense, and that all men who are desirious of remain- 
ing peaceably at home are considered enemies of the country and 
guilty of treason — 

" Resolved^ First : That the charge of conspiracy for the above 
or any other purpose, is a gross and palpable falsehood, and that we 
are ready at any time to take up arms against any body of robbers, 
North or South, and to maintain the peace of our country and the 
liberties of our citizens. 

" Resolved^ Secondly : That we are willing to have a full investi- 
gation made of the object and purpose of the society to which we 
belonged, as we intended only to benefit ourselves, when all other 
resources failed us, without interfering with any seceder or his 
property, and claiming for ourselves the right to think and act as 
independent American citizens. 

" Resolved, Thirdly : That we will not submit to be taken up and 
tried for crimes of which we are not guilty ; and rather than submit 
to the high-handed oppression now going on, we will defend our- 
selves by force of arms, and die, if necessary, in the assertion of our 
liberties." 



136 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

Practically, however, those who assented to these resolutions were 
unable to accomplish anything for the betterment of their condition. 
They were too weak in numbers and resources, and could only live 
and hope. Mr. Strickland, seeing that he had become obnoxious 
to the rebel element in his neighborhood, and that his life would 
be endangered if he remained longer at home, secretly departed, in 
company with L. D. Jameson, Harmon Hodges, and John H. Jen- 
kins, men who, like himself, were no longer safe where rebellion 
held sway. 

Arriving at Salem, Dent county, Missouri, they were placed under 
arrest as suspicious personages, and were sent by the Commander of 
the Post to Rolla. Th^re, through the intervention of one Captain 
Ware, who had been a member of the same organization with them- 
selves, they were released, and shortly afterward Mr. Strickland 
joined the army of the Southwest at Lebanon. Attached to it for 
a time as teamster, and then as bearer of dispatches, in March, 1862, 
he was taken sick, but recovering soon after, undertook to go home, 
striking across the country from Keitsville. 

On the 2d of April he arrived there, and was told by citizens that 
he was in at least no immediate danger. For a short time he was 
unmolested. The Sunday following his return, however, Churchill's 
Brigade of Texas Cavalry, arrived at Burroughville, and that night 
a detachment of nine of them, guided by James Shaw, Miles Thorn- 
ton and Wade Griffin, went to the house of Strickland's step-father, 
twelve miles from Burrougbville, with whom he was then residing, 
for the purpose of effecting his arrest. Other arrests were made en 
route, and it was 9 o'clock ere the party arrived at the house, where 
it was intended to seize Strickland. He had not yet retired, and 
seeing small squads of men approaching the house from different 
directions, hastily passed from one room to another through an open 



PARIS G. STRICKLAND. 



137 



porcb, after his rifle and revolver, and when returning was hailed 
with the polite salutation — 

" G — d d — m you, strike a light or we'll fire !" 

The ruffians, immediately, pressed up to the house, and a moment 
later shot John Workman, the step-father of Mr. Strickland, just as 
the latter was handing him a gun. The women of the house- 
hold now caught hold of Mr. Strickland to prevent his shooting, 
as men were breaking into the house from opposite doors. This 
demonstration saved his life, as the Texans hesitated to shoot 
when they saw the clinging women. He was now seized; 
"punched" several times with the muzzle of a gun, and at 
length dragged from the house and taken to Burroughville. . The 
next day he was notified that he would have to " stand a trial," 
and very shortly afterward was ushered into the court room under 
guard, and called upon to respond to the charge of treason, before 
an extemporized tribunal, consisting of the most bitter rebels of the 
town. They sat around promiscuously, and like the minions of a 
barbarous despot, aggravated the injustice of their decision by the 
irregularity of their proceedings. It was a sort of "/r^e fight " on 
the part of the court, every member considering himself privileged 
to ask all manner of bellicose questions, and that he possessed the 
right of unlimited abuse of the poor victim of oppression, w^ho, 
without counsel or preparation, was thus called to answer a most 
serious charge. 

The names of some of these men we insert: M. P. Hogan, 
officious ; Alexander Hill, Clerk of the Circuit Court and ex-officio 
County Clerk of Searcy county ; James D. Shaw, Gibson Parks, 
Terrill Young, Justice of the Peace, very officious ; Martin Blair, 
John J. Dawson, John L. Russell, and William H. Jones. The 
long scroll of infamy that the rebellion is now preparing, likewise 



l38 



LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



includes them, and as the subordinate but hated instruments of a 
tyranny as malignant as it is hopeless, they will never be forgotten 
in the county of their residence. Under the general charge of 
treason against the Southern Confederacy, the first specification was, 
that the accused belonged to the Peace Organization Society ; the 
second, that he had been to the Northern army ; and the third that 
he was a spy. No witnesses were examined, and he was called 
upon substantially to convict himself He admitted that he 
belonged to the Peace Organization Society ; in reply to an 
impertinent question denied all knowledge of or complicity with 
jayhawkers ; answered that he left his home because he became 
satisfied that he could not remain there, and boldly averred that he 
went to the Northern army for protection. In response to the 
interrogatory, why he did not join the Southern army, he answered 
that he did not like the soldier's fare, and alluded to the seventy- 
seven citizens who, the autumn before, had been marched like a 
chain-gang from Burroughville to Little Rock, and there, in the 
Hall of the House of Representatives, been forced to enlist or be 
tried for treason — a ceremonial at which Governor Rector was the 
high priest. 

This extraordinary court now placed their heads in wise juxtaposi- 
tion ; asked each other if they had any more questions to put, and 
were about to direct the removal of the accused, when he requested 
the privilege of addressing them. It was hesitatingly accorded ; 
but he had scarcely begun, when he was stopped and taken from 
the room under guard. Marched to Cooper's Tavern, he was 
allowed to remain undisturbed until 9 o'clock at night, when, with 
others, who had undergone a similar trial (?), he was told to get his 
blanket to go to jail. The prisoners' hands were now tied behind 
their backs, and ropes placed about their necks. They were then 



PARIS G. STRICKLAND. 



13d 



separated, one John W. McDauiel (still living) being first taken 
away. Strickland was led in a direction opposite to that in which 
the jail was located, into a secluded hollow nearly a mile from 
town. The rope previously placed about his neck was thrown over 
the limb of a tree, and he was tauntingly asked which he preferred, 
to be hung or shot. Upon his replying that if nothing but his 
death would serve their purpose, he preferred to be shot if he could 
see them do it, one Captain Black, upon whom is chargeable the 
death of John Workman, shot as already mentioned, and who was 
acting a conspicuous part in the proceedings of the hour, replied 
that he would shoot him, but in the back. 

" Down on your knees," says the brutal Captain. Strickland 
refused to bend, whereupon the rope being released from the limb, 
Black catches hold of it near his neck, and after one or two ineffec- 
tual efforts jerked him down. He jumps now upon his stomach, 
and then catching him by the hair of the head, draws a knife and 
passes it across his neck, slightly cutting the skin. Meanwhile his 
curses were incessant, and at length he rose and ordered Strickland 
to do likewise. But the latter was nearly exhausted, and replied 
that he could not. Black then places his foot under Strickland's 
neck, and by the joint action of it and a command, succeeds in 
getting him up. He jerks him again so that he staggers but does 
not fall. Ordering another man to hold the rope, he takes up his 
gun and fires 'it above Strickland's head. He now draws a pistol, 
remarking that " he had killed one d — d old jayhawker with it, and 
was going to try another ;" presented it to Strickland's forehead, 
and snapped it several times, doubtless to annoy, however, rather 
than kill. 

When the ropes were being adjusted at the jail, Black told 
Strickland that he had been condemned to be hung, and now 



140 LOYALTY ON' THE FRONTIER. 

informs him that he should proceed with the operation. Throwing 
the rope over the limb again, he jerked Strickland violently against 
the tree, and then, as if relenting, said that he hated to hang or 
shoot a man unless he had an equal showing with him. Apparently- 
relenting still further, he asks him if he would go home and remain 
there if released. Strickland remarked that under the circum- 
stances he would. Cautioning him against revealing the occur- 
rences of the night. Black now sets him at liberty, together with 
John W. McDaniels, previously mentioned, and Martin Gillam, 
another citizen. Returning home that night Strickland remains five 
or six weeks in the vicinity, lying in the woods by day, and ven- 
turing forth even at night with great caution. He then secretly 
departed for White county, where he was arrested by soldiers 
belonging to the army of the Southwest. On hearing his story 
General Curtis promptly released him, when he went to Helena, 
thence to St. Louis, and from there to Springfield. He was lately 
at Elk Horn Tavern, waiting with an anxiety, that none but a refugee 
can feel, for the occupation of Arkansas by the Federal forces. 

Camp at Prairie Grove, Ark.. 
December, 1862. 



NOKTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 



When General McCullough passed throngli Fayetteville, on his 
way to discomfiture and death at Pea Ridge, he expressed the wish, 
that North-western Arkansas was in a place, which we shall simply 
designate as more hot than holy. If character and calamity on the 
one hand, and the Bible on the other, can determine the post mor- 
tem condition of a human being, "Ben McCullough," whilom 
somewhat famous as a Texan Ranger, is sealed with a fate that 
polemics cannot modify, and God will never change. Rabid seces- 
sionists have always disliked North-western "Arkansas. Though 
bordering on the Cherokee line, it has been for years the intellectual 
centre of the State, with Fayetteville as the point from which its 
intelligence radiated. Settled principally by Kentuckians and 
Tennesseeans, whose early teachings, under Henry Cla}^ and Andrew 
Jackson, gave to their politics life, and to their loyalty vigor, attach- 
ment to the Federal Union has, from its settlement, been the 
prevailing sentiment of this section ; a result attributable, in no 
small degree, to the educational institutions of Fayetteville and 
vicinity. 

In the summer of 1839 the first school was established in Fayette- 
ville. Its proprietress, Miss Sophia Sawyer, w^as well known and 
very favorably remembered by the early residents of Washington 
county. A lady of indomitable energy, her experiment soon 
expanded into the Fayetteville Female Seminary, at the head of 



142 LOYALTr ON THE FRONTIER. 

whicli she continued for a number of years, and until declining 
health compelled the abandonment of her enterprise to the care of 
others. In 18-12, Eobert W. Mecklin, who had been for years a 
prominent State surveyor, opened a grammar school, three miles 
west of Fayetteville. Shortly afterward it became the Ozark. 
Institute, incorporated as a college in 1845. Some years later there 
arising a difference in views, that grew out of an act of discipline, 
the faculty were divided, and Robert Graham, a professor in the 
college, and a gentleman of culture and experience, severing his 
connection with it, went to Fayetteville and shortly succeeded in 
founding the Arkansas College, an institution that, until the rebel- 
lion broke out, thrived far beyond expectation. Though on the 
frontier, it was not at all inferior in its course of study and thorough- 
ness of instruction to the time-honored seats of learning, that have 
made New Haven, Cambridge and Princeton, classic ground. 

Another female institute sprung up at Fayetteville in 1858, and 
some years earlier a seminary at Elm Spring, ten miles north- 
westerly, under the auspices of William Barrington, a merchant of 
intelligence and energy, who, looking beyond the necessities of 
trade, could appreciate the educational wants of a new community. 
The climate, moreover, of I^orth-western Arkansas is favorable to the 
growth of intellect, and the surface of the country, high, bold and 
beautiful with here and there valleys of the richest soil, through 
which meander the Main, Middle and West forks of the White 
river, and other lesser streams, while inviting the medita- 
tion of the student secures the hygienic approval of the parent. 
Agriculturally, also, this section of the State possesses a variety 
of adaptation rarely found elsewhere. In the bottom lands, 
south of the Boston Mountains, cotton is raised abundantly, 
and north of them, in the valleys, all the cereals, and on the hill- 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 



143 



sides fruit, superior to any that either New Jersey, or AVestcrn New 
York caTi produce. Grapes likewise grow wild in great abundance, 
and if given any attention are very superior in flavor. The vine- 
grower could there find his paradise. 

Such briefly is the natural aptitude of the section, and when the 
rebellion broke out, nature and intelligence seemed to be vieing 
with each other in making the people contented and their homes 
happy. Arkansas College and the female seminaries at Fayetteville 
were busy with the hum of earnest voices, participating in which 
was the well-pronounced English of native Creeks, Cherokees and 
Choctaws, young ladies, many of them who, but for faint traces of 
their origin, would have passed, in parlor or hall, as high born 
dames of Anglo-Saxon blood. 

In February, 1862, and before its re-organization near the base of 
the Boston Mountains, a short time prior to the battle of Pea Ridge, 
the rebel army retreated through Fayetteville. Going northward, 
before that event, McCullough had stated, that if he should be com- 
pelled to return, he would burn as he went, and he kept faith with 
his threat. The Arkansas College, the Fayetteville Female Semi- 
nary, a large steam flouring mill, and four ware-houses, became 
heaps of ruins, to say nothing of the numerous private dwellings 
that were sacrificed upon the altar of his spleen. North-western 
Arkansas will long remember the irascible Texan, but for the 
brilliancy of his fires not his genius. In politics, also, the section 
has been equally prominent. A strong Union feeling has ever been 
its dominant characteristic, and notwithstanding the defection of 
leaders, when firmness was most needed, the masses are loyal still, 
and while we write are coming up nobly to the support of the Union 
of their fathers. When South Carolina seceded in December, 1860, 
the rash act was no where more severely reprobated than in North- 



144 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

western Arkansas, and when a few weeks later, the Legislature of 
the State passed an act calling a convention, the object of which was 
to take into consideration the secession of the State, the Union 
element was eager for the polls. The election of delegates was to 
take place on the 18th of February. Public excitement was running 
high, and " straight out " secessionists were straining every nerve to 
elect unqualified disunionists. The most extravagant statements were 
made. Every supporter of the Administration was termed a Black 
Republican. The idea of negro equality, which, by the way, has 
always thrived far more in the apprehensive minds of Southern men 
than any where else, was expanded into a system of adverse laws 
and ordinances, and Union men derided as spiritless and unequal to 
the emergency of the time. But the inoculating material was 
vicious, and the impulses of the people shrank from the noxious 
touch. The Union delegates received large majorities, and with 
the Hon. David Walker, of Washington county, at their head, 
walked into the Convention, proud recipients of the confidence of a 
patriotic constituency. 

The Convention met on the 4th of March, 1861, and during its 
brief, but stormy session, the Union men stood firmly by their colors. 
Every conceivable pressure was brought to bear upon them, culmi- 
nating at length in a proposed ordinance of secession, and threats to 
take the State out of the Union by force, if all other methods should 
feil. The public mind on the other hand, was strongly inclined to 
co-operation, and the Union delegates sought to defer the action of 
Arkansas, until the result of a Convention of the Border slave-hold- 
ino- States, to be held at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 2'7th of May, 
should become known. On the 20th of March, therefore, the day 
before the adjournment of the Convention, the following ordinance 
was passed : 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 145 

" An ordinance to provide for holding an election in the State of 
Arkansas, for the 2^urpose of taking the sense of the people of 
the S'ate on the question of co-operation or secession. 

" Section I. Be it ordained hy the people of the State of Arkansas 
in Convention assembled : That an election shall be held in all the 
counties in this State on Monday, the third day of August, 1861, at 
which the question of " co-operatiou " or "secession" shall be 
submitted to the people of this State ; which election shall be held 
and conducted, in all respects, in accordance with the laws of the 
State now in force, prescribing the manner of holding elections ; 
Provided, that the sheriffs of the several counties shall be required 
to give at least thirty days' notice of the time and places of holding 
said election, by advertisement thereof, as required by law for 
ordering elections. 

"Sec. II. Be it further ordained, That the ballots or tickets to be 
used in said election, shall be endorsed ' for co-operation,' or ' for 
secession,' from which ballots count shall be made by the Judges, 
and they shall ascertain how many votes are cast for ' co-operation,' 
and how many arc cast for ' secession ' at their respective precincts, 
and shall duly certify the result of said counts, and make returns 
thereof to the clerks of their respective counties, who shall open 
and compare said returns, as they are now required by law to open 
and compare the returns of other elections ; and each clerk shall 
make an abstract of the vote of his county upon the question of 
'secession' or 'co-operation,' and file the same in his office ; and 
shall also at the same time, make out under his seal and deliver to 
the delegate or delegates from his county to this Convention, a 
copy of said abstract, to be returned by them to the office of Secre- 
tary of State, as hereinafter provided. 

" Sec. III. Be it further ordained. That the delegates to this Con- 



146 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

vention, shall be made special returning officers, to bring up the 
certified vote of their respective counties, on the question of 'co- 
operation' or 'secession,' to the office of the Secretary of State; 
which vote from all the counties shall be opened and counted by the 
Secretary of State, in presence of the Governor, Auditor, and Treas- 
urer, or any two of them, on Monday, the 19th day of August, 
1861 ; and said officers, or any three of them, shall certify to the 
President of this Convention, when the same shall be again conven- 
ed, as hereinafter provided, the whole number of votes cast in the 
State 'for co-operation,' and the whole number of votes cast 
* for secession,' and if from any cause any delegate shall be unable 
to bring on the vote of his county, as herein provided, he shall have 
power and it shall be his duty, to appoint a special messenger to 
be the bearer of the same in his stead ; and if from any cause, 
there should be no delegate from any county, then the clerk of said 
county shall appoint a messenger to bring up the vote thereof. 

" Sec. IV. Be it further ordained^ That the delegates, or other 
messengers, who shall bring up the vote of the different counties, 
shall receive the same mileage as is provided to be paid to returning 
officers by the act of the General Assembly calling this Convention. 

*' Sec. V. Be it further ordained^ That if it shall appear, when the 
result of said election shall be made known to this Convention, that 
a majority of all the legal votes cast in the State, shall be for 
' secession,' then, in that event, such vote shall be taken to be an 
instruction to this Convention to pass an act of immediate secession, 
and the Convention shall at once pass an ordinance dissolving the 
connection existing between the State of Arkansas and the Federal 
Government, known as 'The United States of America;' but 
if a majority of all the legal votes shall have been cast for 'co-op- 
eration,' then this Convention shall immediately take such steps as 



I 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 147 

may be deemed proper, to further co-operation with the Border or 
unseceded slave States, in the effort to secure a permanent and 
satisfactory adjustment of the sectional controversies disturbing the 
country. 

" Sec. VI. Be it further ordained., That the President of this Con- 
vention be, and he is hereby instructed to issue his proclamation, 
within ten days after the adoption of this ordinance, to the sheriffs 
of the several counties in the State, requiring them to hold an 
election in their respective counties, in conformity to the provisions 
of this ordinance. 

"Sec. YII. Be it further ordained, That when this Con'/ention 
shall adjourn, it shall adjourn to meet on the 19th day of August, 
1861." 

By section six of this ordinance, the President of the Conven- 
tion was instructed to issue his proclamation for holding an election, 
whereupon the following was generally circulated : 

*■'' Proclamation of the President of the Convention of the people of 
the State of Arkansas, to the sheriffs of the several counties j 
greeting : 

"Whereas, The Convention of the people of the State of 
Arkansas did, on the 20th day of March, A. D., 1861, pass and 
ordain an ordinance, entitled ' An ordinance to provide for holding 
an election in the State of Arkansas, for the purpose of taking the 
sense of the people of the State on the question of ' co-operation * 
or * secession ;' and, whereas, the provisions of said ordinance 
require an election to be held in said State, upon said question, on 
the first Monday in August, A. D., 1861. Therefore, I, David 
Walker, President of the Convention, under the authority and in 
accordance with the provisions of said ordinance, do hereby declare 
and make known that snch election will be held in the State of 



148 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

Arkansas, on the third day of August, A. D., 1861, upon the 
said question of ' co-operation ' or ' secession ;' and the sheriffs of 
the respective counties in the State, are hereby required and com- 
manded to cause said election to be held according to the said 
provisions of said ordinance published herewith. (The two were 
published together). 

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand as such 
President of the Convention, at Little Rock, Arkansas, this 2 2d day 
of March, A. D., 1861. 

"DAVID WALKER. 

"By E. C. BorniNOT, 

" Secretary of the Convention.^'' 

The Convention having now adjourned, both parties went busily 
to work to fashion public sentiment. The Union men remained 
firm, and great hopes were centered in the coming Convention at 
Frankfort. On the other hand, the rebel element in the State 
strained every nerve to precipitate secession. All the appliances 
that art could devise or ingenuity invent, were brought to bear upon 
the people. The thorough canvassing of the State was projected, 
and prominent politicians rode hither and yon, assuming to rouse 
the people from a lethargy that they had never felt. 

Meanwhile there appeared a pamphlet, entitled " State or 
Province, Bond or Free," written by Albert Pike, of Little Rock. 
It was a very specious argument for secession, but a re-production 
of the political heresies, that thirty years ago called down on John 
C. Calhoun, the anathema maranatha of Andrew Jackson. It was 
passing strange too that Albert Pike, of all men, should thus have 
written. The treason of the great South Carolinian, gigantic in 
conception if not in execution, had hardly passed into -history, when 
there appeared from Pike's pen the following stanzas, entitled — 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 149 



DISUNION. 



" Ay, shout ! 'Tis the day of your pride, 

Ye despots and tyrants of earth ; 
Tell your serfs the American name to deride, 

And to rattle their fetters in mirth. 
Ay, shout ! for the league of the free 

Is about to be shivered to dust, 
And tke rent limbs to fall from the vigorous tree, 
Wherein liberty puts her firm trust. 
Shout ! shout ! for more firmly established, will be 
Your thrones and dominions beyond the blue sea. 

" Laugh on ! for such folly supreme, 

The world has yet never beheld ; 
And ages to come wiU the history deem, 

A tale by antiquity swelled ; 
For nothing that time has upbuilt 
And set in the annals of crime. 
So stupid and senseless, so wretched in guilt, 
Darkens sober tradition or rhjme. 
It will be like the fable of Ehlis' fall, 
A by-word of mocking and horror to all. 

" Ye mad, who would raze out your name. 

From the league of proud and the free, 
And a pitiful, separate sovereignty claim, 

Like a lone wave flung off from the sea. 
Oh ! pause, ere you plunge in the chasm. 

That yawns ia your traitorous way ! 
Ere Freedom, convulsed with one terrible spasm, 

Desert you forever and aye ! 
Pause ! think ! ere the earthquake astonish your soul. 
And the thunders of war through your green valleys roll. 



150 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

" Good God ! what a title, what name 

Will history give to your crime ! 
In the deepest abyss of dishonor and shame, 

Ye will writhe till the last hour of time, 
As braggarts who forged their own chains, 

Pulled down what their brave fathers built. 
And tainted the blood in their children's young veins. 

With the poison of slavery and guilt ; 
And Freedom's bright heart be hereafter, ten fold 
For your folly and fall, more discouraged and cold. 

' " What flag shall float over the fires 

And the smoke of your patricide war, 
Instead of the stars and broad stripes of your sires ? 

A lone, pale, dim, flickering star, 
With a thunder cloud veiling its glow, 

As it faints away into the sea ; 
Will the eagle's wing shelter and shield you 1 Ah, no ! 

His wing shelters only the free. 
Miscall it, disguise it, boast, rant as you will, 
You are traitors misled by your mad leaders still. 

" Turn, turn then ! cast down in your might 

The pilots that sit at the helm, 
Steer, steer yom- proud ship from the gulf which dark night 

And treason and fear overwhelm ! 
Turn back from your mountains and glens, 

From your swamps, from the rivers and sea. 
From forest and precipice, cavern and den, 

Where your brave fathers bled to be free. 
From the graves where those glorious patriots lie, 
Ee-echoes the warning, ' Turn back or you die !' " 

Though still a young man, we doubt whether a more vivid pic- 
ture of the arch traitors of the present time, or of Albert Pike's 
own utter defection, could be drawn in verse. The chasm that 



NORTH WESTERN ARKANSAS. 151 

yawned in the traitorous way of Calhoun and his confreres, has 
opened beneath his own feet, and the " folly supreme " of the poet, 
is now the supreme folly of the man. Many of Mr. Pike's warmest 
friends regret exceedingly that he should pursue the course he has, 
since the rebellion began. He is a genius of the first order, and 
wherever he is known, this is admitted. His " Hymns to the Gods," 
published in Blackwood in 1839, gave him an enviable Trans- Atlan- 
tic reputation, and a volume of poems entitled " Nugse," and 
printed in 1854 for private distribution only, breathes the inspiration 
of a master spirit. The muses, however, were but the companions 
of his leisure. A lawyer by profession, he located long years ago at 
Little Rock, and speedily built up a reputation co-extensive with the 
south-west. Nor was his practice confined to Arkansas. To New 
Orleans he was often called professionally, and now and then could 
be seen in a quiet and secluded room in the Capitol at Washington, 
urging the cause of a client, before the most majestic tribunal in 
the world. He is the first lawyer of the south-west. 

Socially it is hardly possible, we are informed, to meet a better 
companion. Generous to a fault, prodigal of money, of a buoyant 
disposition and warm in his attachments, he made friends wherever 
he met men. In 1859 the newspapers killed him off, but he still 
persisted in treading the firm earth. Wandering on the hither 
side of Styx, he appeared unto John F. Coyle, of the National 
Intelligencer^ who, according to the Philadelphia Press, "in pity to 
one whom he had loved while in the flesh, and mourned when 
numbered among the dead, resolved to wake him." The peculiar 
privilege of the children of the Emerald Isle, was now trenched 
upon, and a " wake " that would have aroused St. Patrick himself 
was solemnized not a thousand miles from the capital. There was 
indeed a spirit moved, but that of "St. Peray," and the bibulous ful 



152 



LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



ness of the wit, eloquence and genius gathered about the table of 
"Johnny Coyle," breaking forth at length in song, Pike's own 
lines were sung to the air of "Benny Havens 01" We will be 
pardoned, we trust, for inserting some of thera, with the comments 
made by the chronicler of the occasion : 

" A gentleman from Arkansas, not long ago, 'tis said, 
Waked up one pleasant morning, and discovered he was dead. 
He was on his way to Washington, not seeking for the spoils. 
But rejoicing in the promise of a spree at Johnny Coyles. 

One spree at Johnny Coyles, one spree at Johnny Coyles, 

And who would not be glad to join a spree at Johnny Coyles." 

" He awakes on board the ferry boat which crosses the Styx ; is 
informed by Charon that he is dead ; laments that if so, this little 
accident may make hira miss the frolic at Coyles; resists all entreaty 
from Horace and Anacreon to remain with them, crosses 

" * The adamantine halls, and reached the ebon throne, 

Where gloomy Pluto frowned, and where his Queen's soft beauty shone. 

* What want you here V the monarch, ' Your Majesty,' said he, 

* Permission at one frolic more at Johnny Coyles to be.' ' 

"He promises to return, as Orpheus did, if allowed to revisit 
Coyle, and adds : 

" * 'Tis not for power, or wealth or fame, I hanker to return, 

Nor that love's kisses once again upon my hps may burn. 

Let me but once more meet the friends that long have been so dear. 

And who, if I'm not there, will say, ' would God that he were here.' ' 

" He complains that if dead, he has not been " waked and buried 
dacently ;" declines nectar and ambrosia, preferring the canvass- 
backs, terrapins and St. Peray of his friend Coyle, and swears that 
better company than Pluto can boast, he can find at Coyles." 

The personal descriptions that follow, we omit, remarking, however, 
that Philip Barton Key is styled the " Roman Tally's peer," and 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 158 

Robert Johnson, United States Senator from Arkansas, " the bravest 
of the brave, the truest of the true (.^)." 

"The list of prime fellows rehearsed, Pluto affrighted, announces 
Ijis intention of taking them by installments, and of not letting Pike 
return to upper air. But fair Proserpine coaxes her swarthy and 
regal husband, and prevails on him to allow Pike to be present at 
his own wake. 

" ' How can you say me nay ? 
I'm sure you do not love me ; if you did you'd not refuse. 
When I want to get the fashions, and you want to hear the news. 
And so at last the Queen prevailed, as women always do, 
And thus it comes that once again, this gentleman's with you. 
He's under promise to return, but that he means to break, 
And many another spree to have, besides this present wake.' " 

Well had it been for Albert Pike, had Pluto adhered to his orig- 
inal intention The mythical Proserpine as the Goddess of secession, 
may be said to have detained him in the upper air, long enough to 
enable him to out-live his better self. " State or Province " is 
sharing the fate of Calhoun's heavy volumes, and its author is now 
supposed to be at Little Rock, fulminating his wrath against Generals 
Holmes and Hindman, an indication of the severity of which, and 
of Pike's treatment in his operations among the Indians, can be 
gathered from the following communication, the interest of which 
to us is our excuse for its insertion. 

We copy from the Arkansas Patriot, of February 19th, 1863, — a 
southern sheet published at Little Rock : 

"ALBERT PIKE'S LETTER ADDRESSED TO MAJ. GEN. HOLMES. 

"Little Rock, Akk., December SOth, 1862. 

" When Mr. C. B. Johnson agreed in September to loan your 

quartermaster at Little Rock three hundred and fifty thousand 

dollars of the money he was conveying to Major Quesenbury, the 



1S4 LOYALTY OX THE FRONTIER. 

quartermaster of the department of Indian Territory, you promised 
him that it should be repaid to Major Quesenbury as soon as you 
should receive funds, and before he would have disposed of the 
remaining million. 

" You got the money hy means of that 'jj'i'omise ; and you did not 
keep the promise. On the contrary, by an order that reached Fort 
Smith, three hours before Mr. Johnson did, you compelled Major 
Quesenbury, the moment he received the money, to turn every 
dollar of it over to a commissary at Fort Smith, and it was used to 
supply the needs of General HindmavUs troops ; when the Seminoles, 
fourteen months in the service, have never been paid a dollar, and 
the Chickasaw and Choctaw Battalions, and Chilly Mcintosh's 
Creeks, each corps a year and more in the service, have received 
only forty-five thousand dollars each and no clothing. 

" Was this violation of your promise the act of the Government ? 
To replace the clothing 1 had procured for the Indians in Decem- 
ber 1861, and which, with near one thousand tents, fell into the 
hands of the troops of Generals Price and Van Dorn, I sent an 
agent in June to Richmond, who went thence to Georgia, and there 
procured some six thousand five hundred suits, with about three 
thousand shirts, and three thousand pair of drawers, and some two 
or three hundred tents. These supplies were in Monroe early in 
September, and the Indians were informed that they and the moneys 
had been procured and were on the way. The good news went all 
over their country, as if on the wings of the wind, and universal 
content and rejoicing were the consequences. 

"The clothing reached Fort Smith, and its issue to General Hind- 
man's people commenced immediately. I sent a quartermaster for 
it, and he was retained there. If any of it has ever reached the 
Indians, it has been only recently, and but a small portion of it. 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 155 

You pretended to believe that the Indians were in a "ferment" and 
discontented, and you took this very opportune occasion to stop all 
the moneys due their troops and for debts in their country, and to 
take and appropriate to the uses of other troops, the clothing prom- 
ised to and procured for them. The clothing and the money were 
theirs ; and you were in possession of an order from the War De- 
partment forbidding you to divert any supplies from their legitimate 
destination, — an order which was issued, as you knew, in conse- 
quence of my complaint, and to prevent moneys and supplies for 
the Indians, being stopped; — and you stopped^all. 

" You borrow part of the money, and then seize the rest, like a 
genteel highwayman, who first borrows all he can of a traveler, on 
promise of a punctual re-payment, and then claps a pistol to his 
head, and orders him to " stand and deliver " the rest. And you 
did even more than this. For you promised the Acting Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs, when he was at Little Rock, about the 1st of 
October, on his way to the Indian country, to give the Indians 
assurances of the good faith of the Government — you promised him, 
I say, that the clothing in question should go to the Indians. He 
told the Chickasaws and Seminoles at least of this promise. You 
broke it. You did not send them the clothing. You placed the 
Commissioner and the Government in an admirable attitude before 
the Indians; and the consequence has been, I understand, the 
disbanding of the Chickasaws, and the failure of the Seminole 
troops to re-organize. The consequences will be far more serious 
yet. Indians cannot be deceived, and promises made them shame- 
lessly broken with impunity. While you were thus stopping their 
clothing, and robbing the half-naked Indians to clothe other troops, 
the Federals were sending home the Choctaws, whom they had 
taken prisoners, after clothing them comfortably and putting money 
in their pockets. 



156 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

"No one need be astonished when all the Indians shall have turned 
their arms against us. Why did you and General Hindman not 
procure by your own exertions what you need for your troops ? He 
reached Little Rock on the 31st of May. You came here in August. 
I sent my agents to Richmond for money and clothing in June and 
July. I never asked either of you for anything. I could procure 
for my command all I wanted. You and he were Major Generals ; I 
only a Brigadier, and Brigadiers are as plenty as blackberries in their 
season. It is to be supposed that if I could procure money, clothing 
and supplies for Indians, you and he could do so for white troops. 
Both of you come blundering out to Arkansas with nothing, and 
supply yourselves with what I procure. Some officers would be 
ashamed so to supply deficiencies caused by their own want of fore- 
sight, energy or sense. Yon do not even know you need an 
engineer, until one of mine comes by with twenty thousand dollars 
in his hands, for engineer service in the Indian Territory, some of 
which belongs to me for advances made, and with stationery and 
instruments procured by me for my department, in Richmond, a 
year ago ; and then you find out that there are such things as engi- 
neers, and that you need one ; and you seize on engineer, money 
and stationery. 

"You even take, notwithstanding paragraph YT, of General Orders, 
No. 50, the stationery procured by me for the Adjutant General's 
Office of ray Department, by purchase in Richmond in December, 
1861 ; for the want of which I had been compelled to permit my 
own private stock to be used for months. I no longer wonder that 
you do these things. When you told me that you could not judge 
me fairly, because I told the Indians that others had done them 
injustice, you confessed much more than you intended. It was a 
pregnant sentence you uttered. By it you judged and convicted 
yourself, and you pronounced your own sentence, when you uttered 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 157 

it. The Federal autLorities were proposing to the Indians, at the 
very time when you stoj^ped their clothing and money, that if they 
would return to the old Union, they should not be asked to take 
up arms ; their annuities should be paid them in money ; the negroes 
taken from them restored ; all losses and damages sustained by them 
be paid for, and they be allowed to retain as so much clear profit, 
what had been paid them by the Confederate States. It was a 
liberal offer and a great temptation to come at the moment when- 
you and Hindman were felicitously completing your operations, and 
when there were no breadstuffs in their country, and they and their 
women and children were starving and half naked. You chose an 
admirable opportunity to rob, to disappoint, to outrage and exasper- 
ate them, and make your own Government fraudulent and con- 
temptible in their eyes. If any human action can deserve it, the 
hounds of hell ought to hunt your soul and Hindman's for it,, 
through all eternity. 

" Instead of co-operating with the Federal authorities, and doint/ 
all that he and you could to induce the Indians to listen to and 
accept their propositions, he had better have expelled the enemy 
from Arkansas, or " perished in the attempt," and you had better 
have marched on Helena, before its fortifications were finished, and 
purged the eastern part of the State of the enemy's presence. If 
you had succeeded as admirably in that as you have in losing the 
Indian country, you wouM have merited the eternal gratitude of 
Arkansas, instead of its execrations, and the laurel instead of a 
halter. I said that you and your Lieutenant had left nothing 
undone. I repeat it. Take another small example : Until I left the 
command at the end of July, the Indian troops had regularly had 
their half ration of coffee. As soon as I was got rid of, an order 
from General Hindman took all the remaining coffee, some three 
o 



158 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



thousand pounds, to Fort Smith. Even in this small matter 
could not forego an opportunity of injuring and disappointing them. 
You asked me in August, what was the need of any white troops at 
all, in the Indian country, and you said that the few mounted 
troops I had, if kept in the northern part of the Cherokee country, 
would hav£ been enough to repel any Federal force that ever would 
have entered it. As you and Hindman never allowed any ammuni- 
tion procured by me to reach the Indian country, if you could 
prevent it, whether I obtained it in Richmond, or Corinth or Texas, 
and as you approve of his course, in taking out of that country all 
that was to be found in it, I am entitled to suppose, that you 
regarded ammunition for the Indians as little necessary as troops to 
protect them in conformity to the pledge of honor of the Govern- 
ment. One thing, however, is to be said of your next in command. 
When he has ordered anything to be seized he has never denied 
having done so, or tried to cast the responsibility on an inferior. 

"After you had written to me, that you had ordered Col. Darnell 
to seize at Dallas, in Texas, ammunition furnished by me, you 
denied to him, I understand, that you had given the order. Is it 
60 ? and did he refuse to trust the order in your hands, or even to 
let you see it, but would show it to General McCullough ? Probably 
you know by this time, if you are capable of learning anything^ 
whether any white troops are needed in the Indian country. The 
brilliant result of General Hindman's profound calculations and 
masterly strategy, and of his long contemplated invasion of Missouri, 
is before the country, and the disgraceful route at Fort Wayne, with 
the maneuvers and results on the Arkansas, are pregnant commen- 
taries on the abuse lavished on me for not taking the line of the 
Arkansas, or making head-quarters on Spring river, with a force too 
small to effect anything, anywhere. 



;m. I 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 159 

" I have not spoken of your martial law and provost marshals in 
the Indian country, and your seizures of salt-works there, or in 
detail, of your seizure of ammunition procured by me in Texas, and 
on its way to the Indian troops, or of the withdrawal of all white 
troops and artillery from their country ; of the retention for other 
troops of the mountain howitzers procured by me for Colonel Waitie, 
and the ammunition sent me for them, and for small arms from 
Richmond. This letter is but part of the indictment I will prefer, 
by and by, when the laws are no longer silent, and the Constitu- 
tion, and even public opinion no longer lie paralyzed under the 
brutal heel of military power, and when the results of your im-poliay 
and mismanagement shall have been fully developed. But I have a 
word or two to say as to myself. From tlie time when I entered 
the Indian country in May, 1861, to make treaties, until the begin- 
ning of June, 1862, when General Hindman, in the plenitude of his 
self-conceit and folly, assumed absolute control of the military and 
other affairs of the Department of Indian Territory, and commenced 
plundering it of troops, artillery and ammunition, dictating military 
operations, and making the Indian country an appanage of North- 
western Arkansas, there was profound peace throughout its whole 
extent. Even with the wild Camanches and Kiowas I had secured 
friendly relations. An unarmed man could travel in safety and 
alone, from Kansas to the Red river, and from the Arkansas line to 
the .Wichita Mountains. The Texan frontier had not been as per- 
fectly undisturbed for years. We had fifty-five hundred Indians in 
service, under arms, and they were as loyal as our own people, little 
as had been done by any one, save myself, to keep them so, and 
much as had been done by others to alienate them. They referred 
all their diflSculties to me for decision, and looked to me alone to 
see justice done them, and the faith of treaties preserved. 



160 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

" Most of the time without moneys, (those sent out for that De- 
partment generally failing to reach it,) I had managed to keep the 
-white and Indian troops better fed than any other portion of the 
troops of the Confederacy anywhere. I had twenty six pieces of 
artillery, — two of the batteries as perfectly equipped and well 
manned as any, anywhere. I had on hand and on the way an ample 
supply of ammunition, after being once plundered. While in com- 
mand, / had actualhj procured^ first and last, thirty-six thousand 
pounds of rifle and cannon powder. If you would like to know, 
sir, how I effected this, in the face of all manner of discouragements 
and difficulties, it is no secret. My disbursing officers can tell you 
who supplied them with funds for many weeks, and whose means 
purchased horses for their artillery. Ask the Chickasaws and Semi- 
noles who purchased the only shoes they have ever received, four 
hundred pairs at five dollars each, procured and paid for bi/ me in 
Bonham, and which I sent up to them after I was taken "in per- 
sonal custody " in November. 

" You dare to pretend, sir, that I might be disloyal, or even in 
thought, couple the word treason with rny name ! What peculiar 
merit is it in you to serve on, once in this war ? You were bred a 
soldier and your only chance for distinction lay in obtaining promo- 
tion, in the army, and in the army of the Confederacy. You were 
a Major or something of the sort, in the old army, and you are a 
Lieutenant-General. Your reward, I think for what you have done 
or have not done is sufficient. 

" I was a private citizen over fifty years of age, and neither needing 
nor desiring military rank or civil honors. I accepted the office of 
Commissioner at the President's solicitation. I took that of Briga- 
dier General with all the odium that I knew would follow it, and 
fall on me as the leader of a force of Indians, knowing there would 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 161 

be little glory to be reaped, and wanting no promotion, simply and 
solely to see m\j pledges to the Indians carried out ; to keep them 
loyal to us; to save their country to the Confederacy, and to pre- 
serve the western frontier of Arkansas and the northern frontier of 
Texas, from devastation and desolation. 

" What has been my reward ? All my efforts have been rendered 
nugatory, and my attempts even to collect and form an army, frus- 
trated by the continual plundering of my supplies and means by 
other Generals, as your and their deliberate efforts to disgust and 
alienate the Indians. Once before this, an armed force was sent to 
arrest me. You all disobey the President's orders, and treat me as 
a criminal for endeavoring to have them carried out. The whole 
country swarms with slanders against me, and at last because I felt 
constrained reluctantly to re-assume command, after learning that 
the President would not accept my resignation, I am taken from 
Tishomingo to Washington, a prisoner, under an armed guard, it- 
having been deemed necessary for the sake of effect, to send two 
hundred and fifty men into the Indian country to arrest me. TUe 
Senatorial election was at hand. I had, unaided and alone, secured 
to the Confederacy a magnificent country, equal in extent, fertility, 
beauty, and resources, to any one of our States — nay superior to 
any. I had secured the means, in men and arms, of keeping it. 
I knew how only it could be defended. I asked no aid of any of 
you. I only asked to be let alone. Verily I have my reward also, 
as Hastings had his, for winning India for the British Empire. It 
is T/our day now. You sit above the laws, and domineer over the 
Constitution. " Order reigns in Warsaw." But by and by there 
will be a just jury empanneled, who will hear all the testimony and 
decide impartially — no less a jury than the people of the Confed- 
erate States, and for their verdict as to myself, I and my children 



162 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 



will be content to wait ; as, also, for the sure and stern sentence and 
universal malediction, that will fall like a great wave of God's just 
anger on you and the murderous miscreant by whose malign prompt- 
ings you are making yourself accursed. 

" Whether I am respectfully yours, you will be able to determine 

from the contents of this letter. 

"ALBERT PIKE, 

" Citizen of Arkansas, 
" Theophilus H. Holmes, 

" Major General, &c." 

The only heart burnings are not in Washington, and if the chief 
instruments in south-western rebelliousness will but continue to 
cherish their evident friendship for each other, the Army of the 
Frontier will have no occasion to march down the valley of the Ar- 
kansas. 

But to return. While " State or Province, Bond or Free " was 
being industriously circulated, Union men were not idle. Forty 
delegates to the recent convention at Little Rock, united in an 
address to the people of Arkansas, that was extensively published 
in the newspapers of the day, refused, however, by the organs of 
secession. 

" UNION ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF ARKANSAS. 

" The undersigned, Union members of the Convention which met 
on the 4th, and adjourned on the 21st of March, deem it their duty 
to issue an address, briefly stating the action of the Convention on 
the subject confided to it ; and offering a few suggestions as to the 
course to be pursued in future, in view of the circumstances now 
surrounding our State. 

" Upon assembling at the Capitol on the 4th of March, we found 
a clear majority of Union delegates had been elected, representing 



1 

,d 1 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 163: 

a majority of more thsui Jive thousand of the votes cast, thouo-li but 
little over two thirds of the votes of the State were polled. The 
path of daty to us wa^ clear, and the ordinance of secession was 
voted down ; but there being a large majority of delegates, repre- 
senting a respectable minority of the votes polled, it was deemed 
most wise as well as just, — in view of the fact that the new Admin- 
istration had but lately been installed, and its policy to a great 
extent undeveloped, — not to place the State in a condition that she 
could not act upon any new exigency that might arise, without the 
expense and delay of an extra session of the Legislature, and a new 
election for delegates to a convention ; and with a view of obtaining 
a full and fair expression of the opinion and wishes of the people 
after the policy of the new Administration had become known. 

" Resolutions in favor of a National Convention and declaring 
what, in our opinion, would be a proper basis of settlement of the 
differences between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States 
were adopted in substance : That the Constitution should be so 
amended, that the President and Vice President should each be 
chosen alternately from a slaveholding and non-slaveholding State, 
and in no case both from either : Admission of the territories pro- 
hibiting slavery north of 38 deg. 30 min. north latitude, while the 
same remains under territorial government, and recognizing it south 
of that line, and providing for its protection by Congress and the 
territorial government, until the territory shall have sufficient popu- 
lation to apply for admission into the Union, and that when any 
territory north or south of said line shall contain the population 
requisite for a member of Congress, it shall be admitted a State, 
with or without slavery, as its constitution may prescribe : The 
denial to Congress of all power over slavery, except to protect the 
citizen in his right to property in slaves : That where the arrest of 



164 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

fugitive slaves is prevented by violence, or they are rescued after 
the arrest, the owner shall be paid the value of the slave by the 
United States, who may recover such value from the country where 
the arrest is prevented, or rescue occurs: That the Constitution 
shall not be so construed as to prevent any of the States from hav- 
ing jurisdiction concurrent with the United States, to compel the 
delivery of fugitives from labor : The citizens of slaveholding States 
shall have the right of traveling and temporarily sojourning with 
their slaves, in the non-slaveholding States : That the elective fran- 
chise and right to hold office, State, Federal, or Territorial, shall 
exist in white persons only, and negroes and mulattoes be excluded : 
And that these amendments and the third paragraph of the second 
section of the first article of the Constitution, and the third paragraph 
of the second section of the fourth article, are not to be amended 
or abolished, without the consent of all the States. 

" Other resolutions were adopted, approving the call of Virginia 
for a convention of delegates from the Border slave-holding States, 
at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 27th of May, in which Arkansas 
will be represented by delegates elected by the Convention ; and 
providing for the submission to the people at the ballot-box, on the 
first Monday in August, of the question : 'Shall Arkansas cooperate 
with the border or unseceded slave States, in efforts to secure a per- 
manent and satisfactory adjustment of the sectional controversies 
disturbing the country, or immediately secede ?' To give effect to 
the wishes of the people thus expressed, the Convention will 
re-assemble on the third Monday in August. Other resolutions 
declaring against coercion of the seceded States, and protesting 
against the quartering of the United States troops in places owned 
by the United States in the Southern States, to coerce seceding 
States or prevent secession, were also adopted. 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 165 

"Tims, it will be seen, that while Arkansas is not committed to the 
doctrine of secession, she condemns coercion by the Federal Gov- 
ernment, and recommends the removal of causes that might lead to 
a collision ; and the adoption of constitutional means to restore 
peace and fraternal relations between the sections, and happiness 
and prosperity to our once united, but now distracted conntry. 
Four months will intervene before the election, affording ample time 
for reflection, and the formation of a just conclusion. None can 
complain that the people — the source of all power in this country — 
have not been consulted, or their voice stifled, and it is to be hoped 
that the expression thus fairly obtained will be respected, and the 
decision acquiesced in by all. 

" Fellow citizens : Your destiny is in your own hands. The 
vote on the first Monday in August will seal the fate of the State, 
and in all probability determine whether the Union shall continue 
to exist and shed its blessings upon millions of people, or cease to 
occupy a place upon the map of nations : whether our national 
greatness is to be perpetual, affording a bright example and livins; 
evidence that man is capable of self-government, or be destroyed in 
the morning of its existence, and prove the truth of the theory of 
those who advocate the divine right of kings and the enemies of 
free government. We cannot doubt the result. Your verdict we 
shall await with confidence that you will not determine to destroy 
that government, which has bestowed upon us so many blessings, 
and secured to us so many rights not enjoyed by any other people, 
without uniting your efforts with those of the people of Virginia, 
Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and other slave-holding States still 
in the Union, to secure our rights and at the same time to preserve 
that Union. Wc make no appeal to your passions. To your 
patriotism, love of country and reverence for the memory of your 



166 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

fathers, who handed it down to yon to be transmitted as a sacred 
inheritance to your children, none is needed. Everyone should 
know and understand the danger that surrounds us and the interests 
involved, and determine to act as duty dictates; know what our Gov- 
ernment is, and its value, and what will follow its destruction. What 
the future will develop, once the work of disintegration passes to 
a point beyond control, which it surely will, if Arkansas secedes, is 
beyond the wisdom of man to determine. Secessionists cite the 
acts of Northern men, in and out of Congress, to excite our indig- 
nation, and convince us there is no hope. If we are to take the 
mad ravings of Phillips, Garrison and other disunionists at the 
North, as an index of the sentiment of the Northern people, we 
would be forced to despair of the Republic. 

" But it is as unjust to judge the great mass of the Northern people 
by these men, as it would be to judge the people of the South by 
the declarations of our politicians of the ultra school. The politi- 
cians are one thing, the people another. The politicians have 
created the difficulty, and will never settle it. They stand between 
the people and the sections and stifle their voice. Until the voice 
of the people of the North, expressed in a constitutional way, can 
be heard, we should not conclude that they are blind to their own 
interests, or deaf to the appeals of patriotism and justice. The 
authors of the present difficulty. North and South, unite in opposing 
all propositions of compromise and settlement, for the obvious 
reason that if such an one as is proposed by your Convention is 
adopted, the slavery question, the fruitful source of conten- 
tion, and favorite theme of the demagogue, can never figure as a 
question of national politics — their vocation will be gone and they 
fear, as well they may, their places will be filled by men after the 
order of the statesmen of the better days of the Government. 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 16*7 

" The secessionists say the Northern people are aggressive, and we 
have often demanded our rights, even implored them to do us 
justice. True it is, that the conduct of some of the Northern States 
and finally, the election of a President upon a sectional platform by 
a sectional vote, evidence that there is danger of aggression on their 
part, and for our future security we demand additional guaranties, 
and this, when made, will be the only demand properly made. 
These we demand, and for the purpose of making such a demand as 
will be satisfactory to all, and of presenting it to the Northern 
people, we responded to the call of Virginia for a convention at 
Frankfort, and recommended that a national convention be held. 
That the Frankfort convention composed, as it will be, of delegates, 
fiom the slave-holding States, the most deeply interested in the 
subject of controversy, will mature a plan of settlement that will be 
satisfactory to all men in the South, who desire to see the Union 
preserved, we cannot doubt, notwithstanding it is alluded to as a 
trick, a sham, and every possible effort made to forestall its action 
and prevent its favorable consideration by you. 

"It may be hardly respectful to you to enquire, whether the 
demand will be acceded to by the Northern people, for we feel 
assured that you will not despair until the last means provided by 
the Constitution are exhausted, and every reasonable expectation 
disappointed, following the example of the citizens of the greatest 
republic of the olden time, who awarded a public reception to one 
of their Generals on his return from a disastrous campaign, which 
had resulted in the destruction of the army under his command, 
because he did not des'pair of the republic. But as it is urged as a 
reason why Arkansas should secede, that all appeals have been 
unheeded, all propositions rejected, we trust it is not improper to 
allude to the condition of things since the secession or disunion 



168 LOYALTY OX THE FRONTIER. 

movement commenced ; events that have transpired and the probable 
future. Previous to the presidential election, there were very few 
men in the South who took the ground that the election of Mr- 
Lincoln would justify a destruction of the Union, though his election 
was hardly doubted by any, for several weeks before the election. 
But scarcely had the result been announced, when we were startled 
by the cry raised in every town, village and hamlet in the entire 
South. In but little over one month after the election, and but one 
week after the assembling of Congress, South Carolina called a 
convention, and twenty days later adopted an ordinance of secession, 
and unexampled efforts and appliances were used to precipitate 
other States after her, and several followed in rapid succession. 
There was no statement of grievances, no demand for redress by the 
seceding States. Of course there could be no united action. The 
seceding States defeated it. Virginia called for what is known as 
the Peace Conference, which unfortunately met at Washington, 
where, being surrounded by the same corrupt influences that had 
produced the lamentable state of the country, and composed, also, 
principally of delegates elected by legislatures, or appointed by 
Governors, elected the summer preceding the Presidential election, 
and representing their views, not the people^s, forbade our expecting 
much from it, though we looked to it with some hope. It reported 
a plan for settlement, which it is not necessary to discuss here. But 
na matter what its merits or demerits are. The extremists leading 
the disunion movement North and South, denounced the Conven- 
tion, and predicted its action would prove an abortion, in advance, 
and now, with marvelous consistency, complain that it did not 
receive the favorable consideration of Congress. There was still 
less reason to expect any favorable action from Congress, then in 
session, than to expect the Peace Conference to present a satisfac- 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 169 

tory plan of adjustment for its action, composed as it was, to a great 
extent, of extremists from both sections, elected in time of high 
party excitement, when the existing state of the country was not 
anticipated, working for a common purpose, making inflammatory 
speeches to be scattered broad-cast over the land, and keeping alive 
sectional excitement. Even if there had been a disposition to act, 
there was not sufficient time to discuss the amendments proposed to 
the Constitution. 

" During the session of Congress, petitions, signed by thousands of 
Northern people, praying for a settlement were presented. There 
is still the deepest interest manifested by them. Many of their 
ablest and best men are engaged in the work. Several State legis- 
latures have repealed or nullified their offensive legislation. Indiana, 
Illinois and Ohio have, by resolution, requested the calling of a 
national convention ; the President and many of his leading politi- 
cal friends have expressed themselves in favor of the proposition. 
Nor is th^ all. The Federal troops have been, or very soon will 
be, withdrawn from Fort Sumpter, and thereby the danger of a 
collision avoided. Moreover, by the withdrawal of Southern Sena- 
tors and Representatives from Congress, the Republicans had a 
decided majority in both houses, and the power to pass any law 
they chose, notwithstanding they refused to put into the hands of 
the President the means of coercing the seceded States, and by a 
two-third vote of both houses, passed an amendment to the Consti- 
tution, declaring that no amendment shall be hereafter made to 
authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere 
within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including 
persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State. We do 
not infer from this that the Republican leaders have abandoned any 
of their dangerous dogmas, but that they have found that their own 



170 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

people will not sustain them in their ultraism, and are disposed, by 
concession, to accommodate and settle the difficulties between them 
and us. 

" The question is now plainly presented for your action. Be not 
deceived by the delusion that it is necessary for Arkansas to secede, 
in order to secure the united action of the South. Once out of the 
Union, the designs of the disunion leaders are accomplished. By a 
vote upon resolutions declaring it to be the sense of the people of 
this State, that the Union ought to be preserved if possible, on 
terms consistent with the rights of all sections, and that it is more 
in harmony with the spirit of our Government to amend the Con- 
stitution in such respect, as it may by experience prove deficient, 
than to overturn and destroy it, the secession members are fully 
committed against the Union. Twenty -five voted against these reso- 
lutions, one voted for them, and eight were absent or did not vote. 

" By these resolutions disunion was unmasked, and the true object 
and character of the movement disclosed and shown to be a total 
overthrow and entire dismemberment of the Constitution and 
Union. It is hard to credit that any desire such an end, and we 
feel confident that there is not one in a hundred of the people of 
the South who does not desire the prosperity of the Government 
and the Union, if the rights and interests of all can be preserved. 
We believe it can be done, and appeal to you to make the efi'ort. 
If successful, your interests are secured and your honor is imperish- 
able, for we shall not only see the people of the South still adhering 
to the Union, once more united, prosperous and happy; but our 
brethren, the people of the seceded States, will arise in their maj- 
esty and decree that they shall resume their places in the sisterhood 
•of States, and under one glorious national flag we will resume our 
march to national greatness ; the star of our destiny will re-appear, 



NORTH-WESTER NT A IIK ANSAi^ 



171 



and its splendor, temporarily obscured, illuminate the path and 
cheer the hearts of all people thirsting after liberty. 

" DAVID WALKER, of Washington. 

" J. H. STIEMAN, 

" J. A. P. PAEKS, '' 

- T. M. GUNTEE, 

" J. H. PATTEESON, of Van Buren. 

" J. K CYPEET, of White. 

" W. H. SPIVEY, of Yell. 

" JOHN CAMPBELL, of Searcy. 

" E, Z. WALKEE, of Scott. 

'« W. M. FISHBACK, of Sebastian. 

" S. L. GEIFFITH, 

" WM. C. STOUT, of Pope, 

" S. KELLY, of Pike. 

" J. DODSON, of Newton. 

" A. W. HOB SON. of Ouachita. 

" I. MUEPHY, of Madison. 

" H. H. BOLINGEE, " 

" J. F. AUSTIN, of Marion. 

" M. D. BAKEE, of Lawrence. 

" ALEX. ADAMS, of Izard. 

" F. W. DESHA, of Independence. 

•' U. E. FOET, 

" M. S. KENNAED, 

" JOSEPH JESTEE, of Hot Springs. 

" A. H. CAEEIGAN, of Hempstead. 

" E. H. GAEL AND, 

*' J. W. BUSH, of Greene. 

- W. W. MANSFIELD, of Franklin, 
'• JESSE TUENEE, of Crawford. 

" HUGH F. THOMASON, *' 
" J. H. BEADLE Y, of Crittenden. 
" J. A. STALLINGS, of Conway. 
" W. W. WATKINS,; of Carroll. 
" B. H. HOBBS, 
" A. W. DINSMOEE, of Benton. 

- H. JACKSON, 

" H. W. WILLIAMS, of Poinsett. 
" JABEZ M. SMITH, of Saline. 
" A. H. GAEL AND, of Pulaski. 
" J. STILLAVELL, '' " 



172 LUVALTV ON THE FKOXTIEK. 

Not loni»- after the appearance of this address, many Southern 
men took umbrage at tlie non -evacuation of Fort Sumter, and the 
evident disposition on the part of the authorities of the United 
States to hold it. Great indignation was excited also at the Presi- 
dent's call for seyenty-five thousand men, to retake the forts and 
arsenals in the seceded States and enforce the laws. 

But there certainly was nothing coercive in this. The forts and 
arsenals were national property, and lie who, as the executive head 
of the government, proposed to retake them, had been constitu- 
tionally placed in the presidential chair. Moreover, to enforce the 
laws was simply his duty, and he would have been an unprofitable 
servant had he made no attempt to do so. Men seemed to have 
been blind to the condition of the seceded States at this crisis. 
They certainly were at war with chronology, and in their excessive 
eagerness to crown their thoughts with acts, drew the sword before 
a casus belli could be defined, with either historical accuracy or 
clearness of comprehension. Let the address, which we have 
inserted, speak again upon this point : " In but little over one month 
after the election, (that of President Lincoln,) and but one week 
after the assembling of Congress, South Carolina called a conven- 
tion, and twenty days later adopted an ordinance of secession, ?%iid 
unexampled eflforts and appliances were used to precipitate other 
States after her, and several followed in rapid succession. There 
was no statement of grievances, no demand for redress by the seceding 
States^ Why not? Because the leaders of this rebellion had 
determined upon a separate sovereignty, come weal or come woe 
Their pride was humiliated by the growing strength of the Free 
States. They saw that by the inevitable law of emigration, they 
were sinking into a hopeless minority, but they flattered, and still 
flatter themselves, that they can build up on the soil, dedicated 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 178 

nearly a Imiidred years ago to freedom of speech, thought and action, 
a government that shall effectually crush out all three. For, what- 
ever may be the present Hatus of the American slave, a government 
whose cardinal idea is his perpetual bondage, will meet with a fate 
that shall be 

• ' Like the fable of Eblis' fall, 
A by-word of mocking and horror to all." 

On the other hand, there are but few men who are inclined to 
disregard the rights of slaveholders, as they exist under the Consti- 
tution, and still fewer who deny that the provision therein for the 
rendition of fugitives from labor, applies to negro slaves. The great 
mistake we humbly submit was this ; that the seceding States gave 
President Lincoln no opportunity to announce the policy of his 
administration. He was their firm friend but they cast him off. 
He would have exceeded any of his predecessors in the honest effort 
to secure every privilecje and every right, but the demon possessed 
them, and they made no effort to exorcise him. With them rests 
the responsibility of this causeless, wicked^ terrible war, and into 
which they have precipitated thousands of Southern men, with whom 
they are no more in sympathy than the Pope with reformers. The 
copperas-clothed can fill the ranks, brave the dangers and endure 
the hardships of war, but command, power and place are the peculiar 
privilege of the pampered few, who define labor with a sneer, and 
industry with an oath. Nor can the latter say that the encroachments 
of Federal power have placed them in their present position. Nev- 
ertheless this is the plea, and in north-western Arkansas some of the 
very men, who in April, 1861, signed the Union address to the peo- 
ple of that State, in May of the same year were loud in their denun- 
ciation of assumed coercion by the North, and among others the 



174 LOVAI.TV O.v THK FRONTIER. 



Hon. David Walker President of the Convention to w^hich reference 
has been made. 

It will be remembered, that by section three, of the ordinance 
providing for holding an election in Arkansas, for the pm'pose of 
taking the sense of the people of the State, on the question of 
" cooperation " or " secession,'' the delegates to this Convention 
were made special returning officers, to bring up the certified vote 
of their respective counties, the election at which the said vote was 
to be taken, to occur on the first Monday in August. If the poweiv 
to call the Convention for a time prior to that mentioned in the 
ordinance, to wit : the nineteenth of August, 1861, resided any 
where, it was doubtless in its President. It was a power, however, 
to be exercised with extreme care, and only in extreme peril. David 
Walker was the first to sign the Union address, and is believed to 
be one of its principal authors. The coercion of which he afterwards 
complained, was the attempt of the Federal Government to restore 
what South Carolina and the other seceded States were attempting 
to destroy, and because they failed to make that " statement of 
grievances," or " demand for redress," of which he and thirty-nine 
others, delegates to the convention, and prominent citizens of Arkan- 
sas so ably complained. But the call for the seventy-five thousand 
was the justification of his course. He forgot the attitude of South 
Carolina and her sisters in error, and in the latter part of April, 
called the Convention for the sixth of May. There was no adequate 
time to instruct the delegates before the Convention would assemble, 
yet David Walker, a few days prior to his departure for Little Rock, 
issued the following address : 

"TO THE PEOPLE OP WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

"Under existing circumstances, I feel it to be my duty to take 
your advice upon some important questions which will, in all proba- 



ip.p I 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. I75 

bility, arise for the consideration and action of the Convention, now 
shortly to be convened. Your delegates were elected under a pledge 
to cooperate with the Border Slave States, in an eflfort to settle our 
difficulties with the Northern States upon honorable and just terms, 
and under no circumstances to vote for an ordinance of secession, 
unless the same was referred back to you for your rejection or ap- 
proval. The majority received by myself and colleague was very 
large, so great as to leave no doubt but that you heartily approved 
•our position. You will see by reference to the journals of the Con- 
vention, that our grievances were defined, our rights asserted by 
way of instructions to commissioners to be elected to cooperate with 
the Border Slave States in an adjustment of the questions at issue 
between the North and South. Commissioners were elected to meet 
at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 2'7th of May, and after full consider- 
ation it was left to a majority of the voters of the State to say 
whether they would cooperate with the Border States in such settle- 
ment, or would secede. 

" Thus matters stood, and the friends of Union and cooperation, 
and of secession, had taken the field upon this issue, when the news 
reached us that the United States troops had not been withdrawn 
from Fort Sumter, and that in anticipation that supplies, if not also 
reinforcements, were to be sent, a fight ensued, which resulted in 
the destruction and evacuation of the Fort, since which time has 
followed a proclamation of the President, calling for troops to retake 
the forts in the seceded States, and enforce the laws. Amongst 
other States, Arkansas was called upon to furnish a regiment for 
that purpose. The reports as to the grounds upon which the fight 
was commenced are contradictory, as well as to the extent of the 
preparations for a general war, between the Slave and Free States, 
but enough is known to leave but little doubt that there is imminent 



1^6 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

danger of a protracted and deadly civil war. Against the coercive 
policy of the Government, this, as well as the other Border Slave 
States, protested, and by a resolution of our Convention, we declared 
that we wonld resist coercion if attempted. In view of these facts, 
and after seeking information as well from the Border States as to 
their action, as from citizens of this State, I felt it to be my duty, 
in obedience to an ordinance for that purpose, to call the Conven- 
tion together, to meet on the 6th of May. The question presented 
for your consideration is, under existing circumstances, what wiH 
you have your delegates do ? Shall they still adhere to the position 
taken by them before the election, and which you so unanimously 
endorsed, or will you expect of them to vote for an unconditional 
ordinance of secession, which is not to be referred back to you for 
approval ? Do you wish to remain in connection with a govern- 
ment, that if not already at war with a large portion of the Slave 
States, is threatening and preparing to engage in such war? Or 
would you prefer to cut loose from the old confederacy, and free 
yourselves from all further allegiance to it ? The effect of this act 
would be, on the one hand, to release you from all obligations to 
the old Government, and on the other, to deprive you of its protec- 
tion and aid ; such as its military defense on our borders, its Federal 
courts, land office, mail service, &c. Of this you will consider. 

" But again, will you secede and maintain an independent position, 
and await some general settlement and cooperation of all the slave 
States, or will you secede and unite at once with the Confederate 
States? Should you prefer the former, that is, to maintain an 
independent position until a government may be formed by the 
Border States in common with the seceded States, and act in con- 
cert with them, you will necessarily incur the expense of supporting 
your own government and of defending it; but should you, on the 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 177 

other hand, prefer to unite with the Confederate States, and make 
common cause with them, you will necessarily assume the responsi- 
bility of furnishing men and money to aid them in the support and 
defense of their government. 

" I am induced to call your attention particularly to this matter, 
because I find a strong, if not a prevailing opinion here, that in no 
event should troops be drawn from this portion of the State ; that 
our exposed condition in the event of secession, will demand that 
the troops in this part of the State should be kept here for our own 
defense. None should be misled or deceived in this matter. If 
the State unites with the Southern Confederac}", she must neces- 
sarily come under obligations to furnish troops to fight at any and 
all points, at home and abroad, wherever required. And the fact is 
not to be disguised, that as the northern and western counties have 
the largest white population, a heavy demand must be made on 
them. There is but little hope, for a time at least, of a re-union of 
the States under the old Government, and as the Border Slave 
States contain, according to the late census, two million eighty -five 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight more inhabitants than the 
Confederate States, we can readily see, that should they act together 
in the establishment of a government, composed of the fifteen slave 
States, they will have it in their power, in such organization, as far 
as may be practicable, to protect our rights and promote our inter- 
ests in common with theirs. 

" I have thus hastily and imperfectly presented for your considera- 
tion, the outlines of our present condition, and of the prominent 
question likely to be considered by the convention. There never 
was a time when we should act with more prudence than the 
present, and as our interests are one, we should, if possible, act as a 
united people. I desire to know your will, what would you have 



178 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

iiie do ? I hope you will act at oiioe, and can, in conclusion, only 
pledge myself to obey your instructions, and reflect your will fear- 
lessly and faithfully. I have intentionally omitted a reference to 
the original cause of our present difficulties, or to those upon whom 
rests the fearful responsibility of destroying and breaking up our 
once glorious and happy, but now prostrate and ruined Government. 
You all know my sentiments. I have endeavored to avert the 
calamity that is now upon us, with regard to which my mind has 
undergone no change. But it would be useless and improper to 
dwell upon the past. Our duty to ourselves and our country 
demands all our thoughts and all our energies. Let us look to the 
present and the future, and do all that we can to save our people 
from the calamity of civil war and utter ruin. For weal or woe^ my 

destiny is yours. 

" Your obedient servant, 

"DAVID WALKER." 

This address, it will be observed, bears no date, and we are in- 
formed, by those who know, that it was first circulated at Fayette- 
ville, about the 26th of April, and from that place information of 
its purport was to be taken to the different townships of the County. 
On Thursday or Friday David Walker said to his constituents at 
Fayetteville, " I desire to know your will," and on the following 
Monday starts for Little Rock. The matter was of the first impor- 
tance to north-western Arkansas, of which Washington county was, 
as it were, the life and soul. The citizens had been lulled into 
security by the ordinance of the 20th of March. They were antici- 
pating a full and fair expression of their views on the first Monday 
in August at the polls, and this premature and fatal call of the Con- 
vention was, their interests considered, the exercise of bad judg- 
ment and the most deplorable management. 

They sought, nevertheless, to meet the emergency, and immedi- 



NORTH WESTERN ARKANSAS. l70 

ate steps were taken to instruct David Walker in accordance with 
his request. Union men rode night and day about the county, 
urging the people to assemble with all possible despatch in their 
township capacities. They did so, but before their instructions, in 
most cases, could reach Little Rock, the Convention had assembled, 
and with unbecoming haste, that history will ever reprobate, carried 
the State out of the Union, so far as a convention by no means 
plenary in its powers, could accomplish so rash an act. In a few 
instances instructions were received, we believe, before Mr. Walker 
left Washington county. 

On the 2'7th of April the voters of West Fork township in that 
county, assembled in mass meeting in response to his call, and passed 
the following resolutions : 

" Resolved, 1st, That we are opposed to any ordinance of secession. 

" 2d, That we utterly oppose any action in the State Convention 
that will sever the State of Arkansas from the Federal Government, 
without a full and fair expression of the loyal voters of the State. 

" 3d, That in case of an ordinance of secession, we wish to co-op- 
erate with the other Border State or States. 

" 4th, That we are opposed to any act of the Convention that 
would unite us with the Southern Confederacy as it now exists." 

Conduct so resolute and loyal deserves to be commemorated, and 
\7Q take pleasure in giving the names of those who took the most 
active part in the meeting. 

C. G. GILBEEATH, Chairman. 
W. K. DYE, Secretary. 

J. 0. STOCKBUKGEE, \ 

D. E. EOBINSON, J 

A. W. EEED, f ^'^^'^^^'^^^ 

JOHN A. EUTHEEFOED/ ^"^ 

THOMAS Mcknight, \ ^''^''^^'^'^ 

W. D. DYE. J 



180 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

Resolutions from other localities, kindred or otherwise, raay have 
been received, but one thing is certain, the people not only of 
Washington, but of the other counties in north-western Arkansas, 
were overwhelmingly opposed to secession, even after the bombard- 
ment of Fort Sumter and the President's call for seventy-five thous- 
and men. And had David Walker from his " throne " in the con- 
vention, denounced the course of South Carolina, as in his Union 
address he did a month previously ; had he advised the delegates to 
delay action until President Lincoln should make a single positive 
encroachment upon southern rights, instead of urging those members 
who had voted " no " upon the ordinance of secession to a change 
of opinion, that he might have the poor satisfaction of beholding a 
State unanimous in its defection, north-western Arkansas would not 
to-day rise up against him as the head and front of all its misery 
and all its desolation. The closing sentence of his address, " For 
weal or woe, my destiny is yours," dictated, it may have been, by 
the best of impulses, will appear in judgment against him, a lasting 
commentary upon his utter faithlessness. Months ago he crossed 
the Boston Mountains, and since his descent into the valley of the 
Arkansas, has raised neither arm nor voice for the restoration of law 
and order to that people to whom he owes his elevation, hut not 
his fall. 

On the eighth ultimo we went officially to his mansion on the 
west fork of White River, three miles from Fayetteville, to take 
possession of it, and what other property might be found. The 
house was that day to be vacated as a hospital, and we started for it 
early in the morning. Soon assuming control, we wandered 
through its generous apartments ; looked from a balcony that swept 
a farm of a thousand acres, and then sauntering into the cabins, 
saw nothing there but a sad and silent negress. We thought of the 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. ^ 181 

Union Address, the circular to the people of Washington county, 
and the sixth of May, and involuntarily there flashed up the vision 
of " Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage," though we took no 
part in causing the desolation of the place. A piano, two pier- 
glasses, a treatise on the laws of war, (valuable just at present), and 
Albert Pike's response to a petition for re-consideration in the case 
of " The Heirs of Mathew Cunningham, vs. Roswell Beebe and the 
Heirs of Chester Ashley," were all the effects that we could rescue, 
save brick walls, and half demolished out-buildings. 

" Facilis descensus Averni : 
Noctes atque dies, patet atri janua Ditis ; 
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, 
Hoc opus, hie labor est." 

The Convention over, and the act ot secession passed, the uitra- 
ist went to work more vigorously than ever. Systematic attempts 
were made to subdue and overawe Union men. Organizations were 
effected, whose object was to arouse the people and advance the 
Confederate cause, and no men were more active or bitter than 
Wilburn D. Reagan, a prominent attorney of Fayetteville, and 
Alfred M. Wilson, United States District Attorney for the western 
district of Arkansas. The property of Union men was taken by a 
process called confiscation, but which violated all rules of law, order, 
and common sense. Their lives, also, were put in jeopardy, and 
when, yielding to the instinct of self-preservation, they sought safety 
in flight, armed men would follow, divest them of the means of self- 
defense, and not unfrequently terminate a chase with a tragedy. 
Thus passed a year and a half. The occasional dash of a Federal 
scouting party would, for a time, suspend operations, but the inter- 
ruption over, they were prosecuted more vindictively than before. 

Meanwhile, warlike movements, on a more honorable basis, were 
Q 



182 LOYALTY ON THE FR0>;TIEK. 

vigorously made, and aside from rebel activity in the army proper, 
citizens, whose circumstances or inclination forbade the courting of 
death at the cannon's mouth with that prospect of success which 
regular warfare holds out, organized themselves into squads as 
emergency men. Their deeds, we believe, are not recorded. On a 
flank or in the rear they were very superior. " Trees " were not 
the only things to be seen by them in " bushes," and quite often 
" Birnam wood came to Dunsinane." At the Battle of Oak Hill 
(Wilson's Creek) they hovered near the army, and when Sigel 
unexpectedly commenced his cannonading, " advanced " with all 
haste on the Missouri line ; among others Wilson and Reagan, the 
two Fayetteville attorneys who, as rumor hath it, did not draw the 
rein until they reached Dug Spring, eighteen miles distant. 

"In extremis, salus corporis suprema lex." 

Passing south of the Arkansas river, the Union element was also 
observable, in spite of every exertion to suppress it. There were, 
and are, many loyal men in Franklin, Johnson, Scott, Sebastian and 
other counties, but the constant exhibition of rebel diabolism com- 
pelled them to a course that policy alone could justify. Even the 
love of home and kindred, however, and the desire to protect what 
a life-time had acquired, lost, at length, their power of attraction to 
the soil. The alternatives were rebellion or active loyalty, and the 
exodus began. Some time previously militia companies had been 
formed, but when the people understood their real, but not ostensi- 
ble object, many abandoned them and prepared for flight. At the 
head of one of these organizations, in Franklin county, was William 
C. Patker, and active in it four brothers Lee. For want of ammuni- 
tion the company was disbanded, and Parker, the Lees, George A. 
White, Tipton White, and a few others, efl:ected the difficult task 
of reachino- Springfield, Missouri. 



NORTH WESTERN ARKANSAS. 18?J 

On the 2d of August, 1862, there followed Samuel Lee, the 
father, and the two elder brothers, James H. Lee and Sir William 
Lee. We well remember their appearance in camp. On the 1 5th 
of the month, a hot and sultry afternoon, they walked wearily in ; 
the father, a poor decrepid old man, past three score years and ten, 
hobbling painfully along, but still resolute and still loyal ; the sons 
in the prime of life, yet wan and worn with the fatigues of their sad 
and perilous journey. They had walked the entire distance from 
their home in Franklin county, two hundred miles ; had crossed the 
Arkansas river at night, on a rude raft, constructed in darkness, of 
logs bound together with withes ; had climbed the Boston Moun- 
tains, and then pushed anxiously on, avoiding highways, and rarely 
moving by day-light, until their star of hope stood still over Spring- 
field. After their departure, the mother, an old lady of seventy, 
was arrested and taken to Fort Smith, and informed that she would 
be held until she should tell where her husband and sons had gone. 
A negro girl, belonging to the family, was also brutally maltreated 
in an attempt to accomplish the same object, but the ruffians, active 
among whom in this scandalous transaction were two murderous 
miscreants, John Parker and William Vaughan, were foiled. Sam- 
uel Lee and two of the sons have ceased to be troubled. The worn 
out father died at Elkhorn Tavern in November, 1862, returning 
homeward from exile, himself a tried patriot, who, at New Orleans, 
had stood behind the cotton bales when Packenham moved so 
disastrously forward. The sons died in the service ; but four broth- 
ers still remain, who, with arms in their hands, have sworn not only 
to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, but to 
have satisfaction for family outrages in personal vengeance. 

While Union men were overcoming, as best they could, the 
serious obstacle of the Arkansas river, those north of the Boston 



184 LOYALTY OX THE FRONTIER. 



Mountains were fully alive to the peril of their position, and the 
necessity of effort, at least to the extent of self preservation. In 
Washington county, Thomas J. Hunt, William J. Patten and George 
W. M. Reid, the first mentioned. Major of the Second Battalion, 
First Arkansas Cavalry, and the latter two. Lieutenants of the line, 
were especially active. They were zealous, earnest men, and when 
compelled to flee, their influence bore away many others. Prior to 
the secession of the State, and when that calamity was imminent, 
Lieutenant Patten was untiring in his eftbrts to arouse the people to 
the extent of the impending peril. 

There often accompanied him, in riding about the county to meet 
appointments and extemporise public gatherings, one Stephen Bed- 
ford of Fayetteville. In turn a school teacher, a farmer, a lawyer, 
a merchant, and a minister, he possessed withal an aptitude for 
talking, and was a very earnest Union man. In fact, there were 
none more so. He favored the uniting of northwestern Arkansas 
to Missouri, should the State secede, or if that act proved to be dif- 
ficult of accomplishment, the independence of his section, rather 
than submission to the will of a seceding majority. As troubles 
thickened, however, his patriotism became less ardent, and when 
later, Rains and Coffee were encamped in the vicinity of Fayette- 
ville, and doubts were thrown upon his fidelity to the South, he 
made a speech to the soldiery that satisfied even the most exacting. 

Whatever he might have been, he was now a rebel, and possibly 
congratulated himseH' upon his idiosyncrasy that enabled him so 
easily to adapt himself to circumstances. His versatility was clearly 
his strength, for those who know him, know him^ and they all seem 
to concur in their estimate of his character. 

It so happened in February of the present year, that Mr. Bedford 
was inconsiderately arrested at Fayetteville. He was at once put to 



i 



I 



NOKTH-WESTERX ARKANSAS. 186 

labor, and before his release could be effected bad done good service 
in carrying water from a well to a hospital. Tall in stature, with a 
countenance that once seen can never be forgotten, a white hat that 
had no regard for the seasons, and a diminutive guardsman following 
him around with a huge musket and serious look, he was a picture 
to behold, if not a pattern to imitate. His arrest annulled, he walked 
light-heartedly homeward, and though he has since retired within 
himself, never visiting those places where he once was an oracle, his 
indecision is still his failing. But we drop the episode. " Stephen 
is joined to his idols, let him alone." 

Lieutenant Patten, on the other hand, continued as he began, and 
outspoken in loyalty, never shrank from the proper avowal of his 
sentiments. He early saw the fallacy of secession, and born and 
reared in northwestern Arkansas, knew that it was in utter disconso- 
nance with her interests. In June last, while in the employ of the 
Government, he was heedlessly shot in the vicinity of Cassville by 
a bugler named Kline, of the First Missouri cavalry. At the time, 
he was thought, to use the phraseology of war, to be a " secesh," 
and no opportunity was given for an explanation. Very remarkably 
the wound was not mortal. The ball had passed transversely 
through the head, severing the optic nerve of the left eye, and of 
course destroying sight. Otherwise no permanent injury seems to 
have been done, and the wound has healed. Lieutenant Patten is 
now in active service, and from his intimate knowledge of the coun- 
try and people, it would be difficult to find better men to aid in 
bringing order out of confusion, and restore quiet and harmony in 
the distracted section where his regiment is at present operating. 

Major Hunt, born in Washington county, and catching the inspi- 
ration of a loyal life from an earnest, intelligent and patriotic father, 
William Hunt of the Middle Fork of White river, known well and 



186 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

favorably throughout northwestern Arkansas, early gave indication 
of that force of character which has enabled him to brave the storm 
before which many of his fiiends and neighbors went down. When 
the troubles of his locality were fresh, and the militia was organizing^ 
he raised, with others, a company of one hundred men, but in reality 
for the purpose of aiding the Union movement, and when expected 
to report to Colonel Henry Rieff, rebel enrolling officer at Fayette- 
ville, he found a more congenial place further northward. His in- 
fluence and decision determined the course of many others, and to 
him is attributable in no small degree the regeneration of Washing- 
ton county. 

George W. M. Reid a lineal descendant of one of those men,^ 
whose signature to the Declaration of Independence has forever 
made him illustrious, has likewise been active in defence of his gov- 
ernment. Born in Franklin county, Arkansas, from which his father 
shortly afterwards emigrated to Washington county in the same 
State, young Reid grew up upon the border, passing a portion of 
his early manhood among the Cherokees. Like many other adven- 
turous spirits, who have strayed beyond the line that divides the 
States from the Territories, he has his Indian broils to remember, 
and though troubles of this description were, prior to the rebellion^ 
personal simply, they were all the more violent, and on the one 
hand more savage. Living afterwards near the Cherokee line, the 
Indians became at length so annoying that young Reid settled upon 
a farm in Washington county, nine miles from Fayetteville. His 
life was barren of special interest until the rebellion broke out. Not 
long afterwards, however, being then Captain of a militia company, 
and commissioned as such by Elias N. Conway when Governor o^^ 
the State, he was ordered to report with his command at what was 
called a battalion muster, by Col. Reiif, the enrolling officer already 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 187 

mentioned. Refusing to do so, and thus becoming a special object 
of suspicion, lie nevertheless made no effort to disguise his senti- 
ments. With John A. Rutherford and William Dye, two well 
known citizens of Washington county, he concerted the raising of 
a company of Union men, and in a brief period there arose a power 
whose hostility to the growing phrensy of the time was by no means 
insignificant. Yet Mr. Reid and many others were at length com- 
pelled to " lay out,''^ and finally to flee northward for security. 
While still secreting himself in the vicinity of his home, Reid one 
evening ventured to the house, resolved to remain until morning, 
unless some untoward event should drive him away. Late at night 
he was aroused by a loud noise at the door, and a ruffian voice 
demanding admission. Noiselessly slipping on his clothes, grasping 
a rifle and adjusting a revolver at his side, he directed his wife to 
open the door at which entrance was demanded, while he moved 
silently out at another. His departure was unobserved and fortu- 
nate. A prowling band of rebels were in search of him, but they 
saw in the house no traces of his recent presence. Interrogation of 
the wife resulted in neither clue nor disclosure, and in the morning, 
after compelling Mrs. Reid to procure their breakfast and forage for 
their horses, the men rode sullenly away. Reid observed them, 
and after their disappearance, ventured from his hiding place. 

We cannot dwell, however, upon his adventures. Let it sufiice 
to say that he was ultimately compelled to flee as stated. He is 
now an officer in the First Arkansas Cavalry, and doing good service 
in the vicinity of his old home. We could wish to increase the 
length of this sketch, and insert others of Jesse M. Gilstrap, Thomas 
J. Gilstrap and Samuel P. Lane, of Crawford county, and Jacob 
Yows, of Washington county, but we forbear. The patriotism of 
these men has been tried by fire, and has come forth from the furnace 



188 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

of persecution, outrage and disaster, doubly refined. The Gilstraps 
and Lane have been shamefully incarcerated for their political faith, 
and Yows has lived for months on the White river hills and the 
Boston Mountains. They all subsequently entered the service, and 
Thomas J. Gilstrap died with the harness on, a brave, true man. 

Others still have felt as did they, the distressing pangs of separa- 
tion from home and family, and the gloomy uncertainty of the 
future. North-vv^estern Arkansas has been full, in fact, of incident, 
adventure, trial and privations for the last eighteen months. Nearly 
every Union man is a hero, if a just cause and suffering in its 
defense can make one. As the old attachment to the Union began 
to break out, vi^here for months it had been smothered, rebel perse- 
cution became more ingenious and vindictive. Traps were laid and 
subterfuges resorted to. Loyalty to the old Government was 
regarded as a crime, and hundreds of men were annoyed and out- 
raged. Opportunities were sought to betray Union men into the 
avowal of their sentiments, and then every advantage was taken to 
persecute and oppress. We present a signal instance of this treat- 
ment in the experiences of James Thompson, Esq., of Fayetteville, 
for many years a resident of Washington county, and prior to the 
superces&ion of civil law, and the abstraction of the public records, 
Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of the county. We insert his 
own statement: 

"About 11 o'clock at night, on the 10th of August, 1862, two 
men, named Lewis and Mickle, armed with guns and revolvers, 
entered my house in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and when I got up, one 
of the men represented that they were expressmen, and had a letter 
from Major William H. Miller, of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry, 
commanding at Cassville, Missouri, directed to and intended for me, 
and placed, or rather pushed, said letter into my hands. I replied 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 189 

that I bad no acquaintance with Major Miller, and was surprised that 
he should send a letter to me. I now lit a candle, and at a glance 
knew the letter to be a forgery. It was dated the 10th of August, 
the day of this occurrence, and was in substance as follows : 

'"Head-Quarters, Cassville, Mo., August 10, 1862. 

"'''James Thompson, Esq.: 

" ' I am at this place with seven hundred men, and desire to know 
if it would be safe to visit your section of country with this number 
of men. You will, therefore, give me information as regards the 
numbers, disposition and movements of the Confederate forces in 
your section. 

"'Respectfully, 

"'WILLIAM H. MILLER, 

" ' Major, 1st Battalion, 2d Wis. Cav. 
" ' Per Expressman.' 

" The letter was enclosed in an envelope, and directed to ' James 
Thompson, Esq., at or near Fayetteville, Arkansas.' One of the 
men now began to ply me with questions, wishing to know if there 
were not Confederate troops about fourteen miles west of Fayette- 
ville, at a place called Camp Rector, and also at other points in its 
vicinity. I replied that I had heard so, and that probably there was 
a right smart force there. The pretended expressman asked several 
other questions, showing a familiarity with the number and posi- 
tions of the Confederate troops, of which I had no knowledge 
whatever, even from rumor. One of the men had meantime remained 
silent, standing a few paces distant on my right, and with a gun 
constantly in his hand. The spokesman approached on my left. — 
The latter now asked me how many troops Major Miller ought to 
bring with him if he came to Fayetteville. I answered that he 



190 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

could judge as well as myself, as he appeared to know more about 
the Confederate forces than I did. 

" ' You will reply to the letter,' said the man authoritatively. 

" I answered that he had made his communication verbally, and 
that there was no necessity of my writing. 

" ' It is expected that when a letter is written and sent by an 
expressman to any one, that a reply will be made in writing,' was 
the suggestive retort. 

" I then told him that he could inform Major Miller, or those ivho 
sent him, that no necessity existed for an answer from me. 

" ' But you must answer the letter, and in writing,' was the im- 
perative response, the other man at the same time throwing himself? 
with gun in hand, into a menacing and threatening attitude. I now 
became alarmed, and knowing, as I said before, that the letter was 
forged, for I had previously on several occasions seen Major Miller's 
chirography, and not wishing to answer in writing, remarked that I 
had no pen, ink, or paper. 

" * Here, this will do,' was the answer of the ohliging express- 
man, handing me a pencil and a slip of paper, tearing it from the 
Miller letter, ' Now answer that document at once.' 

" Seeing that I was in their power, I hurriedly wrote the follow- 
ing, designedly omitting to address it to any person : 

" ' Fayetteville, Arkansas, August 10th, 1862. 

" ' I do not think it would be safe, or prudent, to visit this section 
with less than five or six thousand troops. The Confederate forces 
are stationed fourteen miles west of this place, on or near the road 
leading to Cane Hill.' 

" To this production I declined signing my name. 

" * Sign it,' said the expressman threateningly, ' You must ; it is 
expected of you.' 



XORTIl-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 191 

'* Satisfied that these men would do me violence if I did not, I 
now, under protest, signed my name. They immediately departed, 
in a state of great satisfaction, and that night reported the occur- 
rence to Col. Armstrong. Before doing so, however, they went to 
the house of James P. White, to palm off on him the same misera- 
ble subterfuge, but the trifling occurrence of having left their pencil 
with me, seems to have prevented the execution of their design. 

" About 1 1 o'clock on tlie following niglit I was arrested, by 
order of Colonel x\rmstrong, of Texas, commanding at Camp 
Rector, and placed under strict guard. Ten days later, charges in 
writing were preferred against and given to me, and I was told to 
be ready for trial by Court Martial on the following morning. I 
remonstrated against this insufficiency of time ; asked for an exten- 
sion, and leave to send for witnesses. I was answered that the 
' trial must take place to-morrow.' 

"I was charged first, with holding correspondence with and 
giving information to the enemies of the Confederate States of 
America, concerning the numbers, movements and disposition of 
their forces, and secondly, with giving them aid and comfort ; in 
this, that I fed the pretended expressman and his comrade while at 
my house. By permission I sent to Fayetteville for a few of its 
prominent citizens to testify as to my general character, and without 
other preparations awaited my trial, trusting that the cross-examina- 
tion of the two principal witnesses against me, the men who came 
to my house on the evening of the 10th, would result in my favor. 
The trial was to take place on the confines of the camp, in the open 
air, and the court, respectable in numbers and appearance, having 
been duly sworn, the case was proceeded with. Passing over the 
minutia? of the examination in chief of the witnesses of the rebel 
government, the expressman and his comrade, I ventured per- 



192 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

sonally upon their cross-examination, prefering my own inexperience 
to the dubious assistance of the Judge Advocate. 

" Question (to Mickle, the expressman.) ' Did you ever know 
of my receiving a letter from Major Miller, of the Federal army, com- 
manding at Cassville, Missouri, or of my having written a letter to 
him, giving information of the numbers, movements, or disposition 
of the Confederate forces ? ' 

" Answer. 'Never, except the one of the 10th of August, 1862, in 
reply to the one I handed to you at that time.' 

" Question. 'Do you know of your own knowledge whether I, 
at any time before the 10th of August, and before you put said letter 
into my hands, or subsequently, gave information, either directly or 
indirectly, verbally or in writing, to any Federal officer or soldier, 
of the movements, number or disposition of the Confederate troops 
in this section of country, or elsewhere ? ' 

" Answer. ' I do not.' 

" Question. 'Are, or were you ever an expressman for Major 
Miller, of the Federal army ? ' 

" Answer. ' No.' 

" Question. ' Did you ever have the pleasure or honor of seeing a 
Federal officer ? ' 

" Answer. ' I never did.' 

" Question. ' Where do you live ? ' 

" Answer. ' In Crawford county.' 

^^ Question. 'Do you now, and did you not on the 10th of 
August, 1862, belong to the Confederate service? ' 

" Ansioer. ' I do and did.' 

" Question. 'Did you ever see me before the night of the 10th of 
August, 1862?' 

" Answer. ' I never saw or knew vou before that time.' 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 193 

" Question, ' At what time did you receive the letter purport- 
ing to come from Major Miller ? ' 

^^ Answer. 'About four o'clock on the morning of the 10th of 
August, 1862.' 

" Question. ' Who gave you that letter ? ' 

" Answer. ' Col. Armstrong, at his quarters.' 

" Question. ' Who wrote the letter ? ' 

" Answer. ' I do not know.' 

"Such was the character of Mickle's testimony, and that of the- 
man Lewis was only corroborative. The evidence adduced to sup- 
port the second charge was simply ridiculous, and was so considered 
by the court. I was now permitted to speak in my own bahalf, 
having first introduced the testimony of James fl. Stirman, Dr. T. 
J. Pollard and W. L. Wilson, prominent citizens of Fayetteville, as 
to my general character. I insisted briefly that the charges had not 
been sustained by the testimony ; that a systematic attempt had been 
made to place me in a false position ; that I was not personally 
acquainted with Major Miller; had never thought even of holding a 
correspondence with him upon army matters, and that the whole 
transaction was a farce. The trial here closed and I was again 
ordered under guard, beneath the trees. In ignorance of the decis- 
ion of the court — an ignorance not yet dispelled — I was sent a few 
days later to Fort Smith, on the Arkansas river, and thrown into a 
dungeon, where remaining four or five days, I was removed to an 
ordinary guard-house. My health was quite poor, still I was kept 
in close confinement, and allowed none of the privileges accorded to 
other citizen prisoners. 

"About the 15th of October I was sent with others to Little 
Rock. We were taken to the State Penitentiary and placed in dif- 
ferent cells. I was there imprisoned for fifteen days and nights 



194 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

during weather unusually cold for the latitude, was allowed no 
blanket or other covering, and when taken out was actually frost 
bitten. In Noveniber I was released by order of the General com- 
manding, and directed to go home as soon as able. While at liberty 
I was treated very kindly by Capt. Stephenson, the assistant provost 
marshal ; was furnished with meals at the guard-house and allowed 
to move about the town without annoyance. In the latter part of 
December, 1862, I started for Fayetteville, where I arrived on the 
morning of the 2'7th of that month." 

Such was the experience of a quiet, law-abiding citizen of the 
United States. Nor was his treatment as harsh by many degrees of 
injustice and inhumanity as that of others, who were thrown into 
prison or driven into the mountains. The system of persecution 
inaugurated nearly a year since, is now producing its legitimate 
results. While regular warfare has been pushed to the Arkansas 
river and beyond, the woods swarm with guerrillas, the sure offspring 
of Hindman's General Order, No. 1*7, elsewhere appearing. As the 
trees throw out their verdure and the bushes become defences, these 
desperadoes of the frontier, emboldened by their knowledge of the 
country, and smarting under occasional losses, startle the passer-by 
with the unexpected crack of a rifle, or at the dead hour of night 
awaken the household of the backwoodsman with the presaging cry 
of robbery and devastation. 

But not alone in the fields and the woods have the Union people 
of Arkansas been intimidated and outraged. The General Assembly 
of the State has fulminated its wrath against the loyal citizens, in an 
act passed hardly four months ago. We give it entire, not for its 
present effect, for, as a law, it is scouted and defied in North-western 
Arkansas, but to show the exhaustive malice, the diabolical ingenu- 
ity of those men who only need the pow^r, to disgrace and destroy 
their State. 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 199 

post at Elkhorn Tavern, whatever the cause that led to it, has ope- 
rated disastrously upon the Union men in the vicinity, depriving 
them of protection and giving free scope to the " bushwhackers'' 
of Benton county, who last autumn fell back to the White River 
Hills and were careful not to venture too near a military post. Oc- 
casionally these warriors sui generis have taken Federal soldiers pris- 
oners and paroled them. The paroles themselves are models of 
everything that is not to be imitated in transactions of the kind, and 
invariably contain a clause binding the party to abstain from bearing 
arms against the Government of the Confederate States of America. 
It is puerile to say that these men are not in league with the rebels. 
Rare instances of inhumanity may, it is true, be frowned upon, but 
the system is not, and we have conversed with more than one sol- 
dier, who, taken prisoner by undoubted marauders, had been for- 
warded directly to the Arkansas river. 

Not long since we received a communication from one James 
Ingram, the Captain of the most notorious of these bands that infest 
Benton county. The letter reached Fayetteville in a manner un- 
known to ordinary mail carrying, and was placed in our hands on 
the morning of the third of March. Why we should be the recip- 
ient of this missive we do not yet know, nor did the writer see fit 
to inform us. The letter was written in a bold hand, with red ink, 
or possibly a liquid more sanguineous, and as its chirography is 
another argument in favor of the intelligence of a class of men who 
so dread negro equality, we insert it verbatim, punctuaiim, litera- 
timque : 

" hed quarters 

" White River hill to the molisha of Benton Madison and Washing- 
ton CO ark and all it ma consurn I am aposed to Burning and Robino- 
famileys of ther stuff and provisions and a Buse to women tha 



200 LOVALTV ON THE FRONTIER. 

molisiia is as well acquainted with the hill as 1 am and if tha can 
take the advantage of me and my men from the brush and kil ar 
take us prisnors we will But try to pa it Back and will not go and 
Burn nor plunder nor giv abuse but if you carey out the plan of 
Burning and Robing I shal Be compeled to paternise your plan 
But it is a plan that I abhor and I would Be glad you will drop the 
plan we dont want it sed that the suthern people Brot famileys to 
suffer and turn out of Dores I Expect to fight you on all occasions 
and if men fal prisners in my hands tha will Be treeted as prisnors 
of wor tha will Be giv a triol and if tha ar not gilty of 4 crimes tha 
will not be hurt and that is Burning Robing women and childern 
of ther provisions house hole and abuse to famileys and murdering 
men at home not in armes the molishy knows that I hav not robed 
nor Burnt and hav treeted prisnors with respect 

" to Curnel Bishop Dont you no that the war is clost at a end 
and you should be earful for you hav giv orders to murder inosent 
unarm men and Burn if you dont mind you will not Be forgot after 
peace I think men women and children that had no hand in Bring- 
ing up the war shud not be hurt. 

" Curnel Bishop post at fayetteville ark from Capt James Ingrum 

of the 6th provose co Benton Co Ark 

"Feb 27 1863 

" Capt JAMES INGRUN" 

The accomplished Captain is to be commended for his abhorence 
of " burning and robing," but he makes a great mistake when he 
assumes that we have "giv orders to murder inosent unarm men;" 
His band is to-day the terror of Benton county, and the oflScer who 
catches him will deserve promotion. 

The First Arkansas Cavalry are constantly scouring the country, 
but the necessity for frequent reports at head-quarters, and the 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 201 

limited time with which the present force at Fayetteville must 
necessarily hamper any particular scouting party, have rendered it 
impossible to give his case that lengthened attention that it so emi- 
nently deserves and will require. The species of warfare, however, 
in which he indulges cannot long endure. Take from it the sanction 
of the rebel authorities ; let the marauder feel that there is no 
longer a refuge for him on the Arkansas river, when hard pressed in 
the hills and mountains, and "bushwhacking" in South-western 
Missouri and North-western Arkansas will cease. Its enterprises 
are even now unprofitable to engage in, notwithstanding certain 
sutlers and citizens, who thought they certainly could move about 
unmolested, have lately been most unmercifully robbed in the 
vicinity of Cross Hollows and Pea Ridge. 

Since the falling back of the " Army of the Frontier " from 
Prairie Grove and Rhea's Mill to Missouri, the duty of dispersing 
these denizens of the woods has mainly devolved upon the First 
Arkansas Cavalry. To this regiment we have occasionally alluded, 
and as its organization and history are somewhat peculiar, it may 
not be inappropriate to refer to them. The battle of Pea Ridge 
over, the effect of this disaster to the rebel arms began to appear in 
scattered bands of lawless soldiery, and growing boldness in Union 
men. Prior to that event the loyal citizens of Arkansas were cowed 
and powerless. With difficulty they had avoided enlistment in the 
rebel army, and now that the reins of persecution began to slacken, 
they availed themselves of every opportunity to strike for -the 
Federal lines. The Army of the South-west moved to Batesville, 
and Cassville, Barry county, Missouri, became the out-post of the 
frontier, with Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. Holland, of " Phelps' Mis- 
souri Volunteers," as commander of the post, and M. La Rue 
Harrison, then of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, 



202 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

as Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence. Cassville was also 
at this time the seat of a general hospital, and in other respects a 
position important to hold. 

On the tenth of May, 1862, there came to its pickets a band of 
eleven Arkansians, led by Thomas J. Gilstrap and Furiben Elkins, of 
Crawford County. Listening to their story of suffering and wrong, 
and learning that others still were toiling their way northward, the 
idea occurred to Harrison of applying for authority to raise a regi- 
ment of loyal Arkansians, for the cavalry arm of the service. 

Believing that 

"The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 
Unless the deed go with it/' 

the necessary application was made at the earliest feasible moment. 

On the sixteenth of June, 1862, a special order of the War 
Department was issued, authorizing the raising of the regiment, and 
Colonel Harrison, with unceasing zeal, now bent his energies to the 
task. Meantime, other fugitives had crossed the Missouriline. On 
the fourteenth of May there came into Cassville a band of thirty, led 
by Thomas Wilhite, of Washington County, men of nerve and ac- 
tivity, whose undesirable life on the Boston Mountains had, never- 
theless, fitted them admirably for the wild-wood skirmishing in 
which they were destined to act a conspicuous part. 

On the twentieth of June there arrived another detachment of the 
yeomanry of Washington County, one hundred and fifteen strong, 
under the leadership of Thomas J. Hunt. Jesse M. Gilstrap, of 
Crawford County, and others whose loyalty rose with their danger, 
were likewise successful as recruiting officers, and on the tenth of 
July the first battalion was formally organized, with James J. John- 
son, of the 36th Illinois Infantry Volunteers, and who had heartily 
co-operated with Colonel Harrison from the incipiency of his pro- 



NORTH-WESTERN ARKANSAS. 203 

ject, as Major. On the seventh of August the Colonel was mustered, 
and early in October a maximum regiment was in the field. 

In June it rendezvoused at Springfield, and as rapidly as men were 
enlisted, they were placed on post duty. The hardships of their lot 
had but poorly prepared them for the active labors in which they 
were engaged, and it has always been regretted that the regiment 
could not have been permitted, even for a month, the life and dis- 
cipline of a camp of instruction. However, the grand object was 
to raise a regiment of loyal men from a seceded State, and Colonel 
Harrison succeeded. There are officers in the army who know- 
ingly shook their heads at the project, and prophesied nothing but 
failure. 

Generals Commanding gave the idea encouragement, especially 
Brigadier General E. B. Brown, then in charge of the South-western 
Division of the District of Missouri, but others of lesser rank, in- 
fluence and calibre, derided what they could not appreciate. 

To those who are familiar with the political history of Arkansas, 
since its secession, nothing can suggest itself as more important than 
to nurture the Union sentiment, and the discernment and energy 
of Colonel Harrison have resulted not only in raising the First 
Arkansas Cavalry, but a regiment of infantry and a battery of artil- 
lery. Nay, more, while we write, a second regiment of infantry is 
forming under his supervision, and, looking beyond fact to moral 
influence, we do not hesitate to say, that events and successes of this 
description are more to be relied upon than the victories of strange 
troops in a strange country. 

Let us not be understood though as insinuating even, that the 
latter are to be disparaged, but as the army of the Union marches 
triumphantly Southward, conviction must follow possession, and 
nothing can be more gratifying to the loyal men of North-western 



204 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

Arkansas than to witness the present indications of the evident 
uprising of their brethren on the farther side of the Arkansas river. 
•* Wild Bill," of the Magazine Mountain, spurning the overtures 
of General Cabell, has appeared at Fayetteville, and the influence of 
his name in Yell and adjoining counties, is felt in the constant drip- 
ping of the waters of persecution into the great ocean of human 
freedom. 

The poor whites of the South, when their attention is drawn to 
the real nature and object of this war, do not fail to perceive that 
they have nothing in common with those who rule at Richmond. 
They are not apprehensive that their status will be shaken by 
adherence to the old Union, and many of them are now clearly 
seeing that for a long series of years they have been made the 
victims of delusion, hypocrisy and cant. 

" The old Union is good enough for them " they say, and this 
simple yet pregnant sentence is shaping for the yeomanry of the 
South, a new epoch and a new destiny. 

Fayetteville, Abk., 
March, 1863. 



ADDENDUM. 



Since the foregoing pages were written, events of such importance 
to North-western Arkansas have transpired, that we cannot forbear 
allusion to them, and to notice, also, the policy of tlie Government 
toward Arkansas in general, or perhaps, it were better to say, its 
apparent absence of all policy. After the battle of Prairie Grove, 
and the gradual retrogression of the Array of the Frontier into Mis- 
souri, Fayetteville was still held as a military post, and those of us 
who remained there were given to understand that the place would 
not be abandoned. T&e commanding officer, therefore, w^ent to 
work in good faith and with marked success to tranquilize the 
country. For months matters prospered well. The demoralized 
enemy had fallen back to Little Rock, with the exception of weak 
nomadic forces that, like Stygian ghosts, wandered up and down the 
Arkansas from Dardanelle to Fort Smith, and nothing was now 
needed but belief in the permanent occupancy of the section. 
Public meetings were held at Fayetteville and Huntsville. The 
people were addressed as in civil times, and a general desire mani- 
fested to have North-western Arkansas represented in the Federal 
Congress. Further than this, a petition, praying for the adoption of 
the necessary preliminary measures, was very generally signed by 
prominent citizens of Benton, Madison, Washington, and other 
counties, and forwarded first for departmental aid. But the idea 



206 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

received no encouragement from head-quarters, and was necessarily 
abandoned. 

Twelve counties asked the privilege of showing cause why they 
should be taken out of the President's Proclamation of January 1st, 
1863, and by their own acts proven not to be in rebellion. The 
measure was at that time feasible. The Army of the Frontier was 
wending its sluggish way to Rolla, and could easily have parted with 
sufficient detachments, to secure tranquility at the polls and a fair 
expression of opinion. It is true that the President's Proclamation 
of September 22, 1862, had ceased to become operative; neverthe- 
less, had the proper representations been made at Washington, it is 
not at all improbable that another proclamation would have been 
issued to meet the exiafences of the case. Prior to the battle of 
Prairie Grove (December 7, 1862), an election under the procla- 
mation of September could not have been held. After that event 
it could. 

It was no fault of the loyal people of northwestern Arkansas that 
Hindman's men were overrunning their country until they were so 
signally defeated in December. For months and months loyal men 
had lifted up their hands for aid, and they were not strong enough 
without it to attempt an election. Nor is there sufficient reason to 
believe that their military Governor, the Hon. John S. Phelps of 
Missouri, was not properly alive to their interests. He was not " im- 
perium in imperior A ministerial agent after all, he could not 
inaugurate, much less carry into effect, a policy of his own. He 
might indeed advise and recommend, but if the authorities at Wash- 
ington saw fit to disregard his suggestions, that was the end of the 
matter. 

The power to raise the First Arkansas Cavalry was procured with 
the greatest difficulty, and to Governor Phelps' persistent labors thif^ 



ADDENDUM. 207 

result is attributable, still, the military Governorship of Arkansas has 
been more or less a myth to very many of her citizens. Whoever is 
censurable, there has been a lamentable oversight in the management 
of its affairs. The loyal people of the State have exercised them- 
selves like " Rachel weeping for her children," and are to-day in 
almost profound ignorance of the advantages of a military Gover- 
norship. 

Lately the office has been abolished, as a corollary, we suppose, 
to the capitulation of Vicksburg, for it would seem that the War 
Department now imagine that the restoration of civil law in Arkan- 
sas is speedily to take place ; that senators and representatives will 
soon appear as of yore in congressional halls, and that the State, so 
rashly taken out of the Union, will return to its allegiance all the 
more willingly ^rom the disastrous suspension of its laws. If this is 
not the anticipation, then the State should again have a military 
Governor, and now one of its own citizens. Earnest and able men 
can be found, and the thousand and one embarrassments that chill 
the ardor and weaken the loyalty of Arkansians will disappear. 
Perhaps, however, it is expected that the Commander of the Depart- 
ment of the Missouri will discharge the duties of two offices. 

General Schofield doubtless possesses superior administrative abili- 
ty, and perchance will prove himself equal to a position that possibly 
he may yet fill. Should he avoid the rocks upon which his predeces- 
sor split, and remember that the bureau is subordinate to the field ; 
that military vigor cometh first and reconstruction afterwards ; that 
Little Rock is not simply a good strategic point for the concentration 
of department clerks and the ominous records of orders, general and 
special, that wind their sinuous way through the details of military 
life ; but a grand centre of strength, a nucleus of power, from which 
can be made to radiate influences that will remould a State, substi- 



20S LOYALTY ON THE FROXTIEK. 

tute order for coufusion, law for anarchy, and loyalty for treason, 
assistance will not be wanting, although many of the prominent 
citizens of the State are sunk so deeply in the cess pool of rebellion 
that human power cannot extricate them, and there is no probability 
that the divine fiat will ever be interposed in their behalf. 

While the army of the frontier was slowly moving on Kolla, and 
Generals were quarreling for command, the rebels were recovering 
from the disaster at Prairie Grove, and as spring drew nigh, began 
to threaten Fayetteville, the extreme south-western out-post of the 
department. It seemed strange to Arkansians that the "Army of the 
Frontier" should be marched so far away, and that Arkansas should 
be left, as it were, to take care of itself. Fayetteville was the exposed 
and prominent point, and the only troops detailed to hold it were 
the First Arkansas Cavalry and one battalion of the Tenth Illinois 
Cavalry, and the latter were withdrawn in March. 

Col. W. A Phillips commanding the eighth and ninth districts 
of the Department of the Missouri, was the immediate director of 
affairs, but engaged principally in the management of the Indian 
interest, he paid very slight attention to Arkansas. Hovering on the 
borders of the Cherokee Nation, he visited Fayetteville but once, 
we believe, during the winter and spring. Practically he had but 
little intercourse with Arkansians, and his measures for their relief 
were as scanty, as his presence was infrequent. The authorities at 
Fayetteville, however, and loyal citizens of the South, especially Dr. 
J. M. Johnson and E. D. Ham, Esq., of Huntsville, afterwards res- 
pectively Colonel and Major of the First Arkansas Infantry, went 
vigorously to work to strengthen and direct the growing loyalty of 
the section. The results of their labors were encouraging in a high 
degree. 
' A temporary militia was organized, out of which sprang, in part. 



ADDENDUM. ZUU 

the First Arkansas Infantry. A battery of Artillery was recruited, 
and other organizations were projected, and to some extent proceeded 
with. Knowledge of the intended permanent occupancy of Fay- 
ette vi lie was soon widely diflfused, and Union men of cotton planting 
counties south of the Arkansas, secretly left their homes for this 
political Mecca. Hempstead, in particular, reported its delegation 
of patriots, conspicuous among whom was James Boren, of Mine 
Creek township, a hale, hearty old man, of three score years and 
ten, who had lived and intended to die beneath the a^gis of the 
"Old Constitution." William J. Heffington, of Yell county, well 
known in Arkansas as " Wild Bill," a cool, daring, intelligent woods- 
man, who, unwillingly in the rebel service, had remained there long 
enough to become disgusted with it, and then betaking himself to 
his home near the Magazine Mountains, had rallied the bold spirits 
of the neighborhood, appeared with a band of followers, loyal all to 
the Stripes and Stars. 

Others, also, shook off the bondage of an accursed usurpation,^ 
and by the first of April the establishment of this single post, had 
become fruitful of exceedingly cheering results, to all who were 
really interested in the development of Arkansian loyalty. A 
strange short-sightedness seemed to possess the ruling powers at St. 
Louis. It was known that Sterling Price — magical name in rebel- 
dom — had returned to Arkansas ; that Brigadier General W. L. 
Cabell had assumed command of the north-western district of the 
State, and that exertions would soon be made to wrest that section 
from our grasp. It was also known that our force was feeble, far 
too feeble for the duties imposed upon it; that it w^as one hundred 
miles from any support, and that the precarious aid that Springfield 
could render ; that forage was scarce and guerrillas plentiful, and 
that the difficulty of communicating with Headquarters was daily 



210 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

becoming greater ; still, we were to work away, holding the delusive 
chalice to the lips of suffering loyalty. The post waa not to be 
abandoned. With rebels in our midst, it was to be supposed that 
the " grape-vine " telegraph was kept in active operation, and the 
expectation of attack was constant. We needed no large re-in- 
forcements, but assuredly the commander of the Department should 
have foreseen the disastrous consequences of an evacuation of the 
country, and provided against such a contingency. 

Meanwhile the rebels were daily growing bolder. "Bush-whack- 
ing," unfolding with the leaves, seemed suddenly to become the 
favorite avocation alike of farmers and artisans. Farther down in 
Dixie, troops began to bustle about, and as in the days of the 
Hindman dynasty, Clarksville and Ozark on the x\rkansas river were 
instinct with martial life. The following proclamation by General 
Cabell appearing in March, was not without efiect, though many 
ostensible secessionists neglected its counsels and disbelieved its 
prophesies : 

" TO THE PEOPLE OF NORTH AKD WEST AEKANSAS. 

" In obedience to special orders from Headquarters Trans-Missis- 
sippi District, I this day assume command of all the troops, of what- 
ever kind, in North- West Arkansas. In doing so, I hope to be able 
in a short time, to rid that section of the State of the presence of an 
insolent and unscrupulous abolition invader. To do this, I must 
have the hearty cooperation and sympathy of the citizens, and the 
united and determined effort of the soldier. I bring with me to the 
task, the lifetime experiences of a soldier, coupled with the zeal of a 
citizen. Arkansas is the home of my adoption, and that part of it 
in which I am assigned to command is my favorite locality. 

" The soldiers of Arkansas have, in the present struggle for inde- 
pendence, distinguished themselves on every battle-field. The re- 



ADDENDUM. 211 

cord they have made on the bloody plains of Virginia, Missouri, 
Tennessee and Mississippi, have shed a halo of glory around their 
name, and I know that in defending their homes and families they 
will maintain the character they have made in other States. I there- 
fore ask every man in North-West Arkansas, capable of bearing 
arras, to rally to the defence of their homes and their firesides. 
Every man who knows he owes his country service, should come 
forward at once, and enroll themselves beneath their Country's flag, 
to protect their rights and their liberties. Come at once ! In war, 
moments are precious. 

" Those who betake themselves to arms are expected to do their 
whole duty ; — those who remain at home should do theirs. The 
soldiers must be fed and clothed. I hope that a spirit of industry 
will pervade all classes ; that farms will be cultivated with care ; that 
the hum of the busy wheel will be heard in every household, and 
that the women of Arkansas will emulate the mothers and daughters 
of the Revolution. We are engaged in a war with a bitter, un- 
scrupulous and mercenary enemy — our success alone can terminate 
it. The motto of our enemy is : subjugation and spoliation ; — ours 
is : peace and independence. We must conquer it. The enemy 
must be driven from the soil of Arkansas, and beyond the borders of 
Missouri. The war has now assumed such vast proportions, and is 
being prosecuted with so much vigor, that it cannot, in the nature of 
things, be of long duration. One united and vigorous effort on the 
part of the soldiers in Arkansas will expel the invader. He will 
not return. 

«W. L. CABELL, 

^''Brigadier General^ Commanding North- West Arkansas^ 

Thus spoke the over-confident General : as a conquering hero, he 
has not yet appeared. Circumstances, we regret to say, have never- 



212 LOT ALT V OS THE FROXTIKR. 

theless partially favored the cause of his espousal, but tlieir re-action 
is already beginnino^ to be felt, aud, if we are not sadly mistaken in 
the siofns of the times, the "enemy" speedily to be "driven from the 
soil of Arkansas" will be the deluded followers of his own standard. 
On the afternoon of the sixteenth of April, 1863, he left Ozark with 
a force reasonably estimated at twelve hundred men, for the purpose 
of surprising and, of course, capturing or routing the troops at Fay- 
etteville. Cavalry and artillery were to do the work, and the prin- 
cipal officers and commands in Western Arkansas were to share the 
honor of the undertaking. 

Colonel Monroe, a brave and gallant officer, was an especial re- 
liance, and General Hindman's provost guards, alias bushwhackers, 
were not forgotten in organizing the triumphal procession — that was 
to be. 

Early on the morning of the 18th of April, the cavalcade appeared 
before the doomed (?) town, defended by a portion of the First Ar- 
kansas Cavalry dismounted, and the First Arkansas Infantry, an 
incomplete regiment only partially armed, and that with the debris 
of Prairie Grove. We saw the approaching column, and let it suf- 
fice to say, that at 10 o'clock a. m. it was a broken, disordered aggre- 
gation of galloping humanity, fleeing, John Gilpin like, for the Arkan- 
sas river. This was Gen. Cabell's first exploit as commander of the 
district of northwestern Arkansas. He must have had a copy of 
Hudibras in his pocket and bethought himself in time of the familial- 
reflection : 

"He that fights and runs away, 
May live to fight another day." 

On the other hand, the Federal forces were really weak, and should 
have been strengthened long before the battle took place. The men, 
however, were brave and determined, and would have moved out to 



ADDENDUM. 315 

repel a second attack with even greater confidence and alacrity. 
They expected in fact the re-appearance of General Cabell, and rep- 
resenting the complainant in the case of Arkansas loyal versus Ar- 
kansas disloyal, were prepared to try conclusions on the question of 
jurisdiction. About this time, unfortunately, came an order for the 
evacuation of the place. Why it was issued we shall not assume to 
say. By the most of us it was very reluctantly obeyed, and per- 
sonally we thought the measure most unwise and calamitous ; an 
opinion which we have since seen no reason to change. It was but 
a moment's work for Gen. Curtis to say " Fall back by forced marches 
on Springfield," but obedience to the order involved consequences 
that we are loth to believe were comprehended at Department head- 
quarters, or if they were, then everlasting shame upon the authors of 
a policy that directs the occupation of seceded territory^ and then 
unnecessarily abandons it. 

On the afternoon of the 25th of April the dreaded evacuation 
began. At Mt. Comfort, three miles away, was a large camp of 
refugees, who, hearing of the intended movement, came thronging 
into town, and in almost every conceivable kind of vehicle filed into 
an irregular line in front of the camp of the First Arkansas Cavalry. 
Citizens of the place also, whose loyalty was not born of fear or 
policy, hastily gathered together a few of their more valuable effects 
and prepared for the sorrowful journey. Some could not depart, 
and sorrowfully awaited the occupation of the town by the rebels, 
an event that was certain to follow. At three o'clock the motley 
assemblage began to move ; the First Arkansas Cavalry, dismounted, 
(for their horses had been worn out in the service,) and with trans- 
portation altogether insuflicient; the First Arkansas Infantiy w/A 
no transportation at all ; and in their rear, preceding a rear guard, 
a citizen train bearing and accompanied by nearly two thousand 



214 LOYALTY ON THE FRONTIER. 

people. This last feature was particularly distressing. Family after 
family moved despondingly out ; the father careworn and dejected ; 
the mother anxious, yet patient, and the children with a curious mix- 
ture of wonder and excitement that served to buoy up rather than 
depress. All were in the greatest destitution. The rude cart pulled 
wearily along by half famished oxen, or the rough wagon with its 
tattered covering, contained all the wordly effects that they had the 
means of rescuing from plundering rebels. Their houses had been 
burned ; their cattle stolen ; their farms devastated, and now in the 
middle of the nineteenth century, and in the very heart of a conti- 
nent consecrated to freedom of thought, action and purpose, were 
exiles from the homes of a lifetime. They had done no wrong. 
They were in fact what a King is in theory, and believing it to be 
right to adhere to the Union, notwithstanding the secession of the 
State, had spoken and acted accordingly. Many of them had fathers, 
husbands or sons in the Federal army, and were now bearing north- 
ward the mute testimonials of their sacrifices and their devotion. 

But enough. A brighter day will dawn for Arkansas. The fall 
of Vicksburg foi eshadows it ; the repulse at Helena hastens it, and 
to-day the air of the southwest is instinct with the hum of earnest 
voices, clamoring for, not only, but congratulating each other upon, 
the speedy occupation of that State. 

Let us hope that imbecility or neglect will be followed now by 
wise and energetic measures, and that a State, a majority of whose 
citizens are at heart loyal, is at last to receive that aid, the with- 
holding of which for so long a time has aggravated the strife and 
intensified the miseries of the Border. 

Springfield, Mo., 

July, 1863. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 



We append the official report of the Battle of Fayetteville, and 
the documents that accompanied its publication. This engagement, 
though of minor importance as compared with the contests of the 
Army of the Potomac, or the struggles that have recently culmi- 
nated in the capitulation at Vicksburg, is not without its significance. 
It was the first battle of the war in which the loyal men of Arkansas 
were alone opposed to the organized treason of the State, and gave 
a very decided reproof to the rebel slander, that the Union men of 
Arkansas will not fight : 

" Head-Quarters Post, ] 
"Fayetteville, Ark., April 19, 1863. J 

^'' Major-Oeneral S. E. Curtis, 

Commanding Department of the Missouri : 

" General : The following report of the battle of yesterday at 
Fayetteville is respectfully submitted, in addition to the telegraphic 
dispatches of last evening. On Friday, l7th inst., a scout under 
command of Lieutenant Robb, First Arkansas Cavalry, returned 
from the direction of Ozark, and reported no apparent preparations 
of the enemy to move in this direction. Having no fresh horses I 



218 APPENDIX. 

ordered Lieutenant Robb to take his command to quarters, expect- 
ing to be able to send a small scout again on the next day. On 
Saturday morning, 18th inst., at a few minutes after sunrise, the 
enemy having made a forced march from the Boston Mountains 
during the night, surprised and captured our dismounted picket on 
the Frog Bayou road, and approached the town with wild and 
deafening shouts. Their cavalry charged up a deep ravine on the 
east side of the city, and attacked my Head-quarters (the Colonel 
Tibbett's place). The firing of the picket had alarmed the com- 
mand, and by the time the enemy had reached town the First 
Arkansas Infantry had formed on their parade ground under com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel E. J. Searle, assisted by Major E. D. 
Ham, and slowly retired, by ray orders, toward the cavalry, then 
formed, dismounted, at their camp. Fearing that, not being uni- 
formed, they might be mistaken for the enemy, and be fired upon 
by the cavalry, I ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Searle to post seven 
companies as a reserve in a sheltered position in our rear, two of 
which were afterward ordered to support the left wing. The 
remaining three companies of the First Infantry, together with four 
companies of the First Cavalry, formed the centre of our line, under 
my own immediate command. The right wing was composed of the 
Third Battalion, First Cavalry, under command of Major Ezra Fitch ; 
and the left wing. Second Battalion, (First Arkansas Cavalry), was 
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Bishop, assisted by Major 
T. J. Hunt. Head-Quarters was made the " bone of contention," 
and was repeatedly charged by the rebels, who were gallantly repulsed 
by our men. In less than thirty minutes after the first attack, the 
enemy planted two pieces of artillery — one a twelve-pounder, and 
one a six-pounder — upon the hill-side east of town, near Colonel 
Gunter's place, and opened a sharp fire of cannister and shell upon 



APPENDIX. 21^ 

the camp of the First Arkansas Cavalry, doing some damage to 
tents and horses, but killing no men. At 8 a. m. our center had 
advanced and occupied the house, yard, out-bnildings and hedges at 
my Head-Quarters; the right wing had advanced to the arsenal, 
and the left occupied the open field north-east of town, while 
the enemy had possession of the whole hill-side east, the Davis 
place, opposite to, and the grove south of Head-Quarters. This 
grove was formerly occupied by the buildings of the Arkansas Col- 
lege. At about 9 A. M., or a little before. Colonel Monroe led a 
gallant and desperate cavalry charge upon our right wing, which 
was met by a galling cross-fire from our right and center, piling 
rebel men and horses in heaps in front of our ordnance office, and 
causing the enemy to retreat in disorder to the woods. During this 
charge. Captains Parker and Smith, of the First Infantry, while 
bravely cheering their men, were both wounded in the head> though 
not dangerously. At about the same time, by my order, two com- 
panies of the First Cavalry, led by the gallant Lieutenant Robb, 
advanced within rifle range of the enemy's artillery, and guided by 
the blaze of its discharges, fired several volleys into the midst of the 
artillerists, which effectually silenced their battery and caused its 
precipitate withdrawal from the field. The enemy's center, occupy- 
ing the Davis Place, made a desperate resistance for nearly an hour 
after both wings had partially given away, and skirmishing con- 
tinued at intervals for some time with pickets, reconnoitering 
parties and stragglers. At 12 m. their whole force was in full 
retreat for Ozark. Having only a very few horses, and those already 
on duty with picketing and reconnoitering parties, I was utterly 
unable to pursue them. During the whole action the enemy 
occupied ground covered with timber and brush, while my com- 
mand were in the streets and open fields. 



220 APPENDIX. 

"Since the battle I have ascertained the following particulars: 
General Cabell and staff, with about 2,000 men and two pieces of 
artillery, left Ozark on Friday morning with three days rations and 
a full supply of ammunition. They halted at the crossing of the 
mountains at a little past noon and rested until nearly sunset, after- 
wards marching rapidly towards Fayetteville. They were delayed 
by the darkness of the night and the incumbrance of their artillery 
so that they did not commence the attack as early by nearly two 
hours as they had intended. Colonel Monroe recommended a 
cavalry attack, to be supported by the artillery, but was overruled 
by Cabell, and a halt was made until the artillery could come up. 
Their force was made up as follows: Brigadier General W. L. 
Cabell, commanding, accompanied by staff and escort; Carroll's 
First Arkansas Cavalry Regiment, Colonel Scott, of Virginia, com- 
manding, assisted by Lieutenant Colonel Thompson. 

" Monroe's Second Arkansas Cavalry, Colonel Monroe command- 
ing in person. 

"First Battalion Parson^s Texas Cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel 
Noble commanding. 

" One section of Artillery, commanding officer not known ; four 
companies of bushwhackers, commanded by Mankins, Palmer, Brown 
and others. The enemy left all their dead and wounded which 
they could not take away on their retreat, in our hands, leaving 
Surgeon Russell and Assistant Surgeon Holderness to take charge 
of them. To-day Captain Alexander arrived at our picket with a 
flag of truce bringing a communication from General Cabell, a copy 
of which I enclose. The flag was immediately ordered back with 
my reply, a copy of which is also enclosed. The following is a list 
of casualties on our side: 



APPENDIX. 221 

" FIRST ARKANSAS INFANTRY. 

" KILLED. 

" S. Cockerill, company A. 

" WOUNDED. 

" Captain Randall Smith, company A, head, slightly. 

" Captain Wm. C. Parker, company H, head, slightly. 

" Corporal John Woods, company A, slightly. 

" James Shockley, company A, njortally. 

" Niles Slater, company A, slightly. 

" Daniel Rupe, company E, slightly. 

" William Rockdey, company F, severely. 

" Nolin, company H, slightly. 

"FIRST ARKANSAS CAVALRY. 

" KILLED. 

" Privates H. Morris and J. D. Bell, company I ; R. B. Burrows, 
company A. 

" WOUNDED. 

" Captain W. S. Johnson, company M ; right arm, dangerously. 

" Sergeant Frederick Kise, company A, slightly. 

" Sergeant John Asbill, company D, severely. 

" First Sergeant W. M. Burrows, company E, severely. 

" Commissary Sergeant, Ben. K. Graham, company L, slightly. 

" Corporal Josiah Fears, company A, slightly. 

" Corporal Henry C. Lewis, company D, slightly. 

" Corporal George A. Morris, company G, slightly. 

" Corporal Doctor B. Morris, company M, slightly. 

" Farrier Wm. Wooten, company C, slightly. 



222 APPENDIX. 

" John Hays, company A, severely. 

" James Jack, company A, severely. 

" William J. Quinton, company D, slightly. 

" Francis M. Temple, company D, slightly. 

" John Grubb, company E, slightly. 

" Jordan Taylor, company E, severely. 

" Wm. F. Davis, company G, slightly. 

" George Davis, company H, mortally. 

" William J. York, company H, severely. 

" Davis Chyle, company M, slightly. 

"Missing. — Thirty-five. Mostly stampeded towards Cassville 
during the engagement. 

"Prisoners — One Lieutenant and eight men, First Arkansas 
Cavalry, taken while absent without leave, at a dance nine miles 
from town. Also, one private. First Arkansas Infantry, and six 
privates from other commands, taken in town. 

"Total Killed, 4; Wounded, 26; Prisoners, 16; Missing, 35. 

" The enemy's loss is not accurately known. At and about this 
post are not less than twenty killed and fifty wounded. Citizens 
report one Colonel and several men as having died on the retreat ; 
also a large number of wounded still moving on with the command. 
We captured, during the engagement, Major Wilson, Gen. Cabell's 
commissary, wounded,"and Captain Jefi"erson of Carroll's regiment ; 
also four sergeants, three corporals and forty-six privates, a part of 
them wounded ; also not less than fifty horses and one hundred stand 
of arms, mostly shot guns. Among their killed are Captain Hub- 
bard of Carroll's regiment, and a Captain of bushwhackers. The 
enemy admit the loss of over two hundred horses, killed, taken and 
stampeded. Enclosed please find a rough sketch of the position of 
forces at 9 a. m., when the battle culminated. 



APPENDIX. 223 

"Every field and line ofiicer, and nearly every enlisted man 
fought bravely, and I would not wish to be considered as disparag- 
ing any one when I can mention only a few of the many heroic men 
who sustained so nobly the honor of our flag. Lieutenant Colonel 
Searle and Major Ham, in command of the reserve, did good service 
in keeping their men in position and preventing them from being 
terrified by the artillery. Lieutenant Colonel Bishop and Majors 
Fitch and Hunt, of the First Cavalry, led their men coolly up in the 
face of the enemy''s fire, and drove them from their position. Cap- 
tain W. S. Johnson, Company M, First Cavalry, had his right arm 
shattered while leading his men forward under a galling fire. Lieu- 
tenant Roseman, Post Adjutant, and Lieutenant Frank Strong, Act- 
ing Adjutant First Cavalry, deserve much praise. 

" I remain. General, your most obedient servant, 

" M. LA RUE HARRISON, 
" Colonel First Arkansas Cavalry, Commanding. 

" P. S. — We had actively engaged during the battle between 
three and four hundred men only. I should not neglect also to 
mention that S. D. Carpenter, Assistant Surgeon of Volunteers, 
assisted by Assistant Surgeons Cafi'ee, Drake and Tefil were actively 
engaged during the contest in carrying the wounded from the field 
and attending to their wants. 

" M. LA RUE HARRISON, 
" Colonel First Arkansas Cavalry, Commanding." 



224 APPENDIX. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



" Headquarters Northwest Arkansas,! 



"April 19, 1863. 

" Sir — The bearer of this letter. Captain Alexander, visits your 
post under a flag of truce to bury any of my command that may be 
left dead from the engagement of yesterday. I respectfully request 
that you will suflPer him to get up the dead and wounded, and that 
you will extend to him such assistance as may be necessary to enable 
him to carry out his instructions. 

" I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"W.L.CABELL, 
"Brig. Gen. Commanding Northwest Arkansas. 

" To Colonel M. La Rue Harrison, 

Commanding Post of Fayetteville. 



" Headquarters Post, 1 



"Fayetteville, Ark., April 19, 1863 

" Brig, Gen. W. L. Cabell, Commanding : 

" General — In reply to dispatches from you, by hand of Captain 
Alexander, bearing flag of truce, I would respectfully state that the 
dead of your command have all been decently buried in coffins. 
The wounded are in charge of Surgeons Russell and Holderness, 



APPENDIX. 225 

having been removed to our general hospital by my order. They are 
receiving every attention that men can receive, abmidance of medi- 
cines, surgical instruments and subsistence stores having been placed 
under the control of your surgeons. 

" Rest assured, General, that your wounded shall receive the best 
of care, such as we would hope to have from you were we placed 
in a like situation. 

" Under the circumstances, I consider it unnecessary to retain 
your flag, and therefore return it. 

" Your prisoners shall be paroled, and as fast as the men whose 
names are mentioned in your list report to our lines, the exchanges 
will be made. 

" I am, General, very truly yours, 

"M.LARUE HARRISON, 

" Colonel Commanding." 



226 APPENDIX. 

"GENERAL ORDER, NO. 16. 

"read at divine service, FAYETTEVILLE, SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 1863. 



"Head-Quarters Post, 
Fayette viLLE, Ark., April 19, 1863. 
" Comrades in arms : 



} 



" Let the 18th of April, 1863, be ever remembered. The ' Battle 
of Fayetteville ' has been fought and won. To-day the brave and 
victorious sons of Arkansas stand proudly upon the soil which their 
blood and their bravery have rendered sacred to every true-hearted 
American, but doubly sacred to them. In the light of this holy 
Sabbath sun we are permitted, through God's mercy, to gather 
together in his name, and in the name of our common country, to 
offer up our heartfelt thanks to the ' Giver of every good and per- 
fect gift,' for the triumphs of our arms, and for the blessings which 
we this day enjoy. 

" When yesterday's sun rose upon us, the hostile hordes of a 
bitter and unprincipled foe were pouring their deadly fire among 
our ranks ; the booming of his artillery was reechoing from moun- 
tain to mountain, and the clattering hoofs of his cavalry were 
tramping in our streets. 

" At meridian. General Cabell, with his scattered and panic 
stricken cohorts, was retreating precipitately through the passes of 
the Boston Mountains toward the Arkansas river, leaving his dead 
and wounded in our hands. 

" Fellow Soldiers : It is to your honor and credit I say it ; he 
could not have left them in better hands. Not one act of barbarity 
or even unkindness stains the laurels you so proudly wear. Such 
may your conduct ever be ; brave and unflinching in battle ; kind 



APPENDIX. 227 

and generous to the vanquished. Abstain from all cruelty and ex- 
cess. Respect the immunities of private property. Never insult or 
injure women and children, the aged, the sick, or a fallen foe. 

" Let us show to our enemies that the Federal soldiers are as sfen- 
erous as they are brave and patriotic ; let us prove to them the 
justice of our cause and the purity of our purposes, so that soon we 
may gather together, under the broad folds of our time-honored and 
victorious banner every true hearted son of Arkansas. 

" Fellow soldiers : I congratuate you all upon the glorious vic- 
tory you have won, by your cool and determined bravery, for that 
Union which our revolutionary sires established by their valor and 
sealed with their blood. More than all do I congratulate you that 
this battle was fought upon Arkansas soil, and this victory won by 
Arkansians alone ; thereby testifying to our patriot brethern in arms 
from other States that we are not only willing but anxious to second 
their efforts in rescuing our State from the dominion of traitors. 
But in all our rejoicing, let us not neglect to shed the tear of regret 
over the graves of those heroic men who fell beside us, fighting 
bravely for the nation's honor. 

" Green be their mossy graves ; 

Immortal be their name ; 
Above, their banner proudly waves, 

While Heav'n records their fame. 

"A just cause is ours. The Stars and Stripes float gallantly over 
us. God is on our side ; who can be against us ? 

"By order of Col. M. La Rue Harrison, commanding Post. 

"JAMES ROSEMAN, 

"Lieutenant and Post Adjutant." 



228 APPENDIX. 

ARKANSIAN BATTLE HYMN. 

Air — " Marching on.'' 

Arkansians are rallying round the glorious Stripes and Stars, 

We have sworn unceasing vengeance 'gainst the hated stars and bars, 

We know no law hut justice, tho' covered o'er with scars, 

As we go marching on. 
Chorus — Glory! glory! hallelujah, 
Glory ! glory ! hallelujah. 
Glory! glory! hallelujah, 
fc As we go marching on. 

We were driven from our homes, our wives and children dear, 
Our native hills and valleys no longer gave us cheer, 
But now, thank God ! forever, we once again are here, 

Where the war goes bravely on. 
Chorus — Glory &c. 

We remember David Walker who sought our votes of old, 
And linked to ours his "destiny," in voice of utt'rance bold. 
But southward drove his " contrabands," a bid for rebel gold. 

As we came marching on. 
Chorus — Glory &c. 

We scorn deception ever, we scorn it most of all. 
In the proud and haughty rebels who are seeking still our fall, 
But soon they'll hear the shouting and the trumpet's gath'ring call, 

As we go marching on. 
Chorus — Glory &c. 

We've fought, bled, and suffered, but gladly sprang to arms, 
To trample out the treason that desolates our farms. 
We'll bear aloft our banner, and to peace restore her charms, 

As we go marching on. 
Chorus — Glory &c. 

Let the Union of the Fathers, be the Union ever more, 
Of the sons and Ihe daughters of those who fought of yore, 
And moving on the Arkansas, we'll strike the farther shore. 

As we go marching on. 
Chorus — Glory &c. 

Then JUBILATE DEO ! let the welkin ever ring. 

With the joyous songs gf freemen attendant now on Spring, 

And hosanp as loudly sl^utitp God aloiiAour King, 

•» 35 ' As we go marching on. 

Chorus — Glory &c. 
Fatbtteville, Ark., April, 1863. 



'^A >* 









^"^ ''*< 






.^^' -v. 

















■'■o^ 



~2^ 






^' .^c:^^X...' 






^- 



,^ -c 



v^% 



^o^^ 



'o( 






\<. 









.-."^ 



.^<; 






"<-', v-^^ 









/- " 






'.^'€^/. \ 






.^^ ^'<^. 







^^. 






K',: 




.^jr?7^'^ 



